The Hidden Empire
by sithyoda
Summary: This is my 1st fanfic so constructive criticism would be appreciated. This story involves elements from SWTOR and places the in the clone wars era. Anticipated to be rated T for violence. Also, there will be many characters but anakin is the protagonist.
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

This is a Star Wars AU in which somethings get is changed. At some point after the events of episode 9, someone from the 1st order uncovers a time machine in the unknown regions. He uses it to go back 3,600 years to warn darth Malgus that his plan to take over the Galaxy will fail and that the best course of action would be to go into exile. Malgus responds by deploying a small number of troops to the unknown regions, making plans to fake his death, and going along with his original plan. So the battle of illuminati and false emperor flashpoint happen and malgus fakes his death.

The unknown regions were rather undeveloped but there was hidden Rakata technology which allowed the malgus remnant to develop on the planets on which it was hiding. Meanwhile, emperor malgus was placed in carbon freezing until the day the empire was ready to defeat the republic once and for all. After faking his death at oricon, cipher nine, who swore loyalty to malgus, went to recruit the old imperial intelligence for the new empire.

And for the next 3,600 years, the empire remained hidden while other entities which challenged the republic rose and fell. 2,000 years into the exile, darth bane found the hidden empire. He swore to destroy it for it did not follow the rule of two and would present a great threat to any galactic rule by darth bane's order. He fought through brutal encounters with imperial troops and with lords but he made it out ok. Stories of this hidden empire were passed down from master to apprentice and eventually, these stories felt more like legends if anything.

Back in the known Galaxy, the republic was dealing with the confederacy of independent systems. Near the end of 20 BBY, darth malgus was unfrozen as the hidden empire made the the final preparations necessary to wipe out the republic and rule the galaxy and perhaps even more.

 **Author's** **Note:**

This story will have many chapters which will be uploaded from once every two days to once a week. A fair warning: this story heavily incorporates Star Wars lore so if you're a newbie to Star Wars, this isn't for you though I will try to cite where the thing appears. I know that since I'm writing an AU fanfic about the Star Wars Galaxy on a whole, this creates cannon issues since, you know, Disney deleted the EU (makes me wanna beat Disney) so here's the deal: all EU which takes place during or before the clone wars is recognized unless it contradicts with the clone wars series or prequels. The exception to this will be astrographical (basically geography) lore since they aren't elaborated enough upon and the populations are often too small. Also, this fanfic will factor in realism a little more. The force is not caused by midi chlorians but rather by dark matter which was harnessed by the celestials. My fanfic has Star Wars set in the andromeda Galaxy so long ago that we see it as it was between episodes 7 and 8 (the galaxy is 2.5 million light years away which means that this takes place 2.5 million years ago).


	2. Just Another Mission

**Meanwhile on Coruscant:**

Meanwhile in the known Galaxy 20 BBY has been a turning point in the clone wars. For the first time in three years, victory was in the republic's grasp and it seemed like a joyful time. Not everyone was happy however as anakin was still getting over ahsoka's departure from the Jedi order. He was meditating in his Jedi room when one wan went up to him.

"anakin," said Obi Wan, "the Jedi council has summoned you, they would like to speak to you immediately"

"well, tell them I'm busy" replied Anakin

"we all know that you and ahsoka's were close, but you have to let her go. Anyways, the Jedi council is getting impatient, they called you like 5 times".

"alright I'll be there"

So anakin and obi wan went into the council chamber

"it's about time you showed up" said Mace Windu

"sorry I'm late" replied Anakin, "I just had.. Things to deal with"

"we understand." replied Ki Andi Mundi "Anyways, we summoned you to disrupt a separatist cyborg operation"

"General sky walker and Kenobi," said Yoda "go to the Nelvaan system you must. Find the laboratories and encounter resistance you will."

so Anakin and obi wan head off to Nelvaan on a mission.

 **Meanwhile, the hidden empire was making final preparations before it's mighty assault on the republic:**

Malgus was frozen in carbonite and was being thawed. Malgus fell out of the

"is it ready?" asked Emperor Malgus

"yes my lord" replied Darth Necros, a prominent sith in the Empire

"the empire better be ready." "I swear, I'll wreck this room if I find out that the empire isn't ready. I've been thawed for the seventh time and the republic is probably too strong."

"I went over some crucial details with expert tacticians. They say that this is the perfect time to strike. The republic is at war with an entity of star systems attempting to secede. In addition to most of the republic troops being away from the core worlds, we can maybe convince these separatists into an alliance against the republic. We probably don't even need a land invasion force; we could just conduct an orbital bombardment.";

"No," replied Malgus "if we are to win over the local population, we cannot bomb the city from the sky like we did in the sacking of Coruscant. There is also valuable information in the Jedi archives which cannot afford to be lost."

"yes Lord Malgus"


	3. Nelvaan

**Mission on Nelvaan:**

So Anakin and obi wan made it to the planet nelvaan, a rather snowy world as it was farther from the sun.

when they got there, Anakin was hailed by the villagers as the chosen one and he went through some ritual involving worms which caused blue lines along his skin. They were dismayed at learning that there were only women and children, the men were missing. Presumably to be part of the separatists' cyborg army. Obi wan then told anakin to follow the wind because the facility was using a generator which was draining the planet's thermal energy.

Meanwhile, obi wan, back at the village felt a beep from his comlink and answered it. It was Mace Windu:

"obi wan," said Windu, "the power grid with the Jedi temple is out, we need you back on coruscant immediately."

"it's just a power grid," replied Obi Wan sarcastically "it's not like it's keeping the separatists from winning."

windu: the power grid for the senate and military headquarters is also out. We fear this is some terrorist attack by the separatists.

"but I'm on nelvaan with Anakin"

"I don't see you helping him so why don't you go over to coruscant?"

"I mean no disrespect but can you not send another Jedi to escort the inspection team to the generators?"

"We'll see what we can do"

*transmission ended*

While that happened, Anakin was infiltrating the separatist laboratory in an attempt to disrupt their evil plans to brainwash the male nelvaan isn't into being their cyborgs. While there, he sees a Vader like petroglyph and feels that it may be part of his future. As he got there, a male was being put in one of the capsules. He fought and fight and long story short, the male who was put in there broke out and killed off a few droids. He also broke others out and they killed the fleeing separatists.

After a long walk, the villagers had a happy reunion even if the captured males looked different. But obi wan had something urgent to tell Anakin.

"Anakin," said "Master Windu called. He said that some of the power grids went out, we fear this may be a terrorist attack by the separatists."

"How can you be so sure that it's a terror attack?" asked Anakin

"the grids which went out are just so happened to be the ones the Jedi temple, senate, and military headquarters relied on. The Jedi council is sending someone to investigate.

Anakin sighed "when do I ever get a break from fighting?"

So Anakin and obi wan went on their journey back and on their way there, they got this message from Windu:

*message was buffering and hologram was fizzling*

 _do not go back to coruzzkkkkssksz do not gzzzk coruscant. There is a zzzzzzxzxkkk it's gonna destroy the republic soon. They're kzzkszzzzzzz nsmission._

*transmission ended*


	4. Back on coruscant

**Back at Coruscant:**

So Anakin and obi wan were off to nelvaan. Meanwhile, Jedi masters yoda, mace windu, ki andi mundi, and kit Fisto were at the Jedi temple going about their daily were going about on their daily schedule when-

suddenly the power went out. Twenty seconds later, the emergency generators kicked in. They eventually got a transmission from the senate.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you Jedi" chancelor palpatine said "but we got reports of the power grids where the senate and republic headquarters are have went down".

Ki andi mundi responded "we have also experienced a blackout chancellor".

"Then I am afraid that this is a terrorist attack," said palpatine " this is no coincidence. I think it is best to send a clone squad along with a few police droids to investigate the matter"

"Send a Jedi we will," yoda said, "if a terrorist attack this is then sufficient, clones are Fisto, I will send".

Palpatine then said, "well, I was more thinking of sending skywalker to deal with it."

Mace windu replied, " but with all due respect chancellor, Skywalker and Kenobi are on the planet Nelvaan, thousands of light years away".

But mundi replied "well, it is true that anikin and obi wan have been very good at solving situations given to them, surprisingly better than most of us council members".

"Very well then," said windu " I will get into contact with kenobi. It will take time as the emergency generator isn't exactly very good at conducting long range communications".

After an hour of slow wi-fi, windu finally got into contact with obi wan, informed him of the situation, and asked them to come over to coruscant to investigate. Kenobi politely refused stating that Skywalker was on a mission and that he would eventually get there.

As windu was heading off to bed, yoda came to him and talked to him.

"Meditating I have been" yoda said.

"Aaaand?" Windu said with a stern look.

"Sense a great darkness, I do.. From the unknown regions it is. Investigate it, I should."

"No, this could be a trap or perhaps nothing at all". I'll be heading off to bed, tomorrow, you can inform the rest of the council of your vision".

"too late tomorrow will be, Making plans to invade tomorrow, the hidden darkness is".

The very next day, the chancellor and Jedi council got an update:

"we've investigated the generators," kit Fisto said, "they were destroyed but we could not find who was responsible".

"The separatists this was not" yoda said, "a far greater threat this is".

"How can you be so sure?" Palpatine questioned.

"A vision I had, merely a disturbance in the force this is not. Planning to destroy the republic, the original sith are, and planning to start with coruscant they will".

"I am also sending a disturbance in the force from the unknown regions" mace windu said; "as do I" Ki Andi Mundi replied.

"Then we must gather all clones and Jedi to defend the capital planet from this great threat." Palpatine said.

"No," yoda replied, "have enough forces to defend coruscant, we do not. Evacuate the planet while leaving a small force to defend coruscant, we must".

And so much of the Jedi order left coruscant as well as much of the republic senate. The defense force which stayed would be led by kit fisto and ki andi mundi.

It was 5:00 pm

when the coruscant space station (level 5 space station from republic at war mod) received a holographic message from some of the 5 planets between coruscant and the unknown regions

It said that they detected a myriad of unidentifiable, large ships

the Jedi knew exactly what it was

it was the hidden empire


	5. Coruscant Invasion

Author's note: the 1st 3 chapters used a script like dialogue and more general description since clone wars cannon is still ongoing. However, I found that traditional dialogue layout was more conserving on space and maybe a little better for reading (more people prefer it) and in chapter 4, my story starts to diverge from cannon. This means that the rest of this story will be more descriptive and be like chapter 4. Anyways, back to the story.

 **The Invasion** **of** **Coruscant:**

It would only be a matter of time before the mysterious fleet broke through the republic fleet and started bombing targets on the ground to make way for ground forces. Kit fisto decided to have the clones train some of the corusanti citizens in marksmanship and military tactics. Of course, they couldn't be taught nearly as well as the clones as they had a day to learn. Many were excited to finally be engaged in combat, after all, war is glorious. At 8:00 pm, 5 mysterious ships came out of hyperspace and started firing upon the republic fleet. The space station, with its missiles did bring down one of the ships but reinforcements were on the way.

Meanwhile, inside the ship going down, the alarms were going off and there was a voice:

"The ship is going down, Please evacuate to the nearest escape pod immediately" this warning was on repeat.

Inside the ship was a sith named Kel Dracon, a kaleesh. His master, Darth Necros, was on a different ship and was a member on the dark council. He was in his quarters when he heard the alarm and warning. After 30 seconds, he got to an escape pod along with 4 other troopers. He strapped himself in as the door closed and the pod was launched.

back on the ship, the capsules were being dropped and the crew decided to ram the ship into the station. Then another warning went off:

*Warning! The ship is going down. I repeat, the ship is going down. Impact with station will occur in 30 seconds.*

Even though an imperial ship was being sacrificed to destroy the station, the republic was losing; while the republic had only 5 ships, the imperials has 10 with more on the way. Also, the amount of tie fighters overwhelmed republic pilots in their starfighters.

Meanwhile on the ground, fisto and mundi's resistance was getting ready. Kel Dracon's pod crashed into one of the lined holes which lead into the lower levels (not the massive hole which leads to level 1313). They got out and were fired upon by the recruited corusanti but they had horrible aim. Dracon was able to slice them down while the stormtroopers suppressed them with gunfire. A few hidden gave away their hiding positions and ran away. One of them was cornered and surrendered.

The capsules being dropped on the ground had more troops, they were so big that 3 droid biped walkers could fit in there about twice the size of a normal person. On the 2nd floor, there were 20 troops ready and turrets to be positioned to defend the perimeter.

Mace windu, yoda, and many other Jedi were making preparations to leave the planet. Before they left, mace windu had to warn Anakin and obi wan not to return to coruscant. "do not go back to coruscant." Windu warned, "do not go back to coruscant. There is a new threat to the republic and it's not the separatists it's gonna destroy the republic soon. They're jamming the transmission."

30 minutes after the 1st 5 ships arrived, the space station was scuttled, the fleet was destroyed, and most of the Jedi left as well as the senators and chancellor. More imperial ground troops were on the way. The invasion was being directed by Darth Necros as his apprentice, Kel Dracon led his squad across the lower levels. The republic military headquarters was being bombarded from space and the republic senate was captured after only 9 minutes.

Imperial forces have nearly overwhelmed the republic's defense of coruscant, all they need to do now is take the Jedi temple. They could not bombard the temple because it has great knowledge that would be useful for defeating the republic. Their last attempt to take the temple was a staggering success during the sacking of coruscant a few years before SWTOR took place. Boarding pods launched from space hit the temple and punctured through the walls. Out came droids, troops, and sith. The temple guards were overwhelmed as their armor wasn't as effective as imperial armor. Madam Jocasta Nu (the librarian) who stayed behind because of how much she valued the Jedi archives was about to make her last stand with any sith which breached the library. She was stabbed to death by an imperial agent who was invisible. A prominent sith, Darth Velcrus, was not on the dark council but was a well known warrior nonetheless. Velcrus led his forces through the grand halls of the Jedi temple and slaughtered many of the Jedi defenders along the way.

Eventually, he got to the Jedi council room to find kit fisto. They had a brief conversation before engaging in a lightsaber duel. Velcrus victiously swung at kit fisto who blocked it and swung back. They had a clash and then they kept dueling in the council chamber for 15 more seconds before fisto decided to flee from the chamber and take the fight to the bar of the 5 towers. Velcrus followed and they dueled for 30 more seconds before Velcrus sliced across his enemy's torso. Kit fisto was dead.

In just 16 hours, the battle of coruscant was a decisive imperial victory. Kit fisto and the Jedi defenders were dead, ki andi mundi fled to level 1313, the republic military headquarters was destroyed, the resistance was utterly crushed, and the Jedi temple and senate were under imperial control.

This is the republic's darkest hour


	6. Landing on Alderaan

**Going to Alderaan:**

While coruscant was being taken in a blitzkrieg offensive by the empire, Anakin and obi wan kenobi recently completed their mission on the planet nelvaan and were about to return to the Jedi temple to report their success. This all changed however when they got a garbled message from mace windu telling them not to return to coruscant. Currently, they are in hyperspace in a republic cruiser (similar to the one in phantom menace but a little bulkier). Obi wan then went down the halls to inform Anakin. "What is it master?" Anakin asked. "Apparently we got a mysterious message from mace windu telling us not to go back" obi wan replied. "So what do we do?" Anakin asked. "I think we should stay away from coruscant" obi wan answered. "If it's a mysterious message then something's going down," Anakin said "we need to go check it out". Obi wan sighed "why must you always question authority?" Anakin answered, "because the Jedi council isn't always right" Anakin said in frustration. "Like that time when they assigned ahsoka to you instead of me even though I was the one requesting an apprentice?" Obi wan said humorously. "Well," Anakin said as he was trying to think of something to say, "she was very difficult to deal with when I first trained her". Anakin was trying to think of another thing to add on, "she did get better over time and she was like a little sister to me. I think she was better off with me. In short, being assigned to ahsoka was the best mistake the Jedi council ever made". "Hmm, interesting" obi wan replied.

After a full day, they got another transmission once again from mace windu. "Anakin and obi wan," he said "we need you to come to Alderaan; it is now the temporary capital of the republic while the new threat occupies coruscant. We will discuss everything when you get there". "Very well then," obi wan said, "we're on our way".

After 16 hours, they reached their destination. The ship landed on a huge pad at Aldera, the capital of Alderaan. As they walked out, Anakin and obi wan were greeted by Padme Amidala. "Oh hey senator" Anakin said, "I'm glad you got off coruscant ok". "Yeah all the senators and chancellor got out ok." She replied, "it's the common people of coruscant in worried about". "So where is mace windu and the other Jedi?" Obi wan asked. Just as he said this, mace windu and master yoda walked out. "In danger the republic is." Yoda said. "I saw windu' transmission," obi wan said, "it was rather ominous". "We'll discuss everything inside." Windu said.

After a few minutes of walking and enjoying the pretty view, they reached a hologram room not too different from the one at the Jedi temple. Mace windu turned on the holograph board which showed an image of the republic fleet and space station. "This was the republic fleet over coruscant," windu said, "as you can tell by the more robust space station. A mysterious force sent twenty ships to deal with our five ships and space station. We were able to down one of them but their ships were a mile long compared to our kilometer long republic attack cruisers and they had turrets on both top and bottom. When the ground troops came, our forces were overwhelmed. Alongside these troops were sith; this was definitely not the separatists". "Speaking of separatists, how do you think they will react to this invasion?" Anakin asked. "An alliance perhaps" yoda replied, "reason to attack the separatists rather than concentrate on the republic, the sith have not". "How long did the republic last?" Anakin asked. "About 24 hours" windu replied, "we are moving our forces from the outer rim to corellia and Kuat Drive Yards has stepped up production of ships as did mon Cala yards. Our ships will be equipped with the droid killer bomb which was tested on malastare ". "I heard of times when the sith would attack the republic,"obi wan said, "but it wasn't since 3,600 years ago did they have a very organized military, high end battleships, and... Well... An empire". Anakin, obi wan, yoda, and windu spend 15 minutes talking about the history of Jedi and sith when the big holocommunicator started beeping. "Oh look, we have a transmission." Obi wan said. "It's from coruscant". Windu said as Anakin answered it. A figure who was clearly a sith came up, "greetings Jedi, it has been a long time." The sith said, "my name is darth malgus, emperor of the sith empire". "You're darth malgus?" Anakin said, "but you died when the republic sent a strike team". "I faked my death". "But you fell down a reactor shaft," obi wan said, "no one could survive that". "A mysterious man who claimed to be from the future told me of what would be my demise." Malgus said, "so he placed force field things in both reactor shafts and they caught my fall. I just had to wait until the strike team left to make my escape in an escape pod". "But exploded, the station did. Massive the explosion was." Yoda said. Malgus replied, "I delayed the self destruction sequence by five minutes which was enough time for me to escape. A few hours later, a freelance imperial agent rescued me. Before I betrayed the empire, I gathered people who would be loyal to me and took them to the unknown regions." "Called us to monologue did you?" Yoda said humorously. "I called to inform you of your inevitable demise." Malgus said, "for 3,600 years, we prepared, we got stronger, all while the republic believed that they vanquished the sith empire for good. In the past the republic survived because the sith have always turned on themselves, not this time. Every sith has taken an oath of loyalty to the sith emperor. Your demise is inevitable, you are fighting a war on two fronts and the republic isn't as United as you believe". The chancellor is keeping the republic together." Anakin said. "The chancellor is no different from me. We are both sith, you just don't know it yet". Anakin was pissed, "THE CHANCELLOR IS NOT A SITH!". "What evidence do you have of palpatine being associated with the dark side?" Obi wan asked skeptically but not quite yelling like Anakin did. "In palpatine' office, there's a room far back with sith relics." Malgus answered, "there's even a painting of the great hyperspace war". Windu then said, "If you called to disunify is with deception, then I'm afraid you failed". "It's true," Malgus said, "here's one of his sith relics." Malgus said as he was holding palpatine's sith chalice. "I've had enough of this." Anakin said as he turned off the transmission. "Anakin!" Obi wan said angrily, "we could have learned more about him". "Most of what he was saying is deception any ways." Anakin justified. "Leave this room while we discuss a few things." Mace windu said sternly. So Anakin left to talk to Padme.


	7. Padme

**Interesting times:**

So Anakin was wandering the hallways when padme went up to him saying his name. "Hi padme" Anakin said.

Padme then said, "I have to talk to you about something." as she took him to her room and shut the door. "Anakin," she whispered, "something wonderful has happened. I'm pregnant".

"Why that's... Wonderful padme." he replied mostly smiling but with a hint of worry.

"What are we going to do?"

"Don't worry, obi wan won't find out, after the war is over, we can run away and start a family in naboo. I'll leave the Jedi order."

"But you devoted so much to becoming a Jedi. Are you just gonna quit?"

"How else are we supposed to deal with this? We can't live in a secret relationship anymore. Not when we have a kid coming our way".

"I don't know what do do anymore Anakin. I mean we weren't thinking things through when we decided to get married after seeing each other for only 3 days.".

"But I met you 20 years prior."

"Yeah but there wasn't anything going on between us. Plus, we never saw each other for 10 years".

"But we were meant for each other." said Anakin flirting, "I guess being a stalker really pays off after all".

"I don't know how I fell in love with you, but some how I did. By the way, I'm carrying twins".

"soo, two boys, two girls, or one of each"

"One of each"

"Have you thought up any names for these darlings?"

"well, for the girl, I was definitely thinking 'Leia' but for the son, I can't decide between Luke or Ben".

"I think Leia's is a great name for a girl," Anakin replied, "but if I had to choose between Ben and Luke, I'd piiick...".

Right before he could finish a doorbell rang; it was Bail Organa. "Oh um, I was sent to inform you that dinner is ready." he said. "Why that's wonderful" said Padme. "You're invited too," said Organa, "this is an event for Jedi and Alderaanian nobles". And so they had a feast; they had a few conversations regarding the hidden empire, Alderaan, and the future of the republic.

Meanwhile, the empire was retaking planets which they once ruled such as Dromund Kaas, Korriban, and Ziost (even though it was lifeless). Darth Malgus moved into coruscant as the sith order and imperial military moved their operations room to the Jedi temple. They knew that the republic wouldn't bomb the temple from the sky because of its importance. The republic military headquarters was destroyed and as soon as Malgus was done making the broadcast (or when Anakin turned it off rather), the entire senate rotunda (the dome shaped building near the senate) was opened to the republic free of charge. People on the tours found out that many senators did very shady things and the sith artifacts in the cancellor's office as tour guides used this as an opportunity to spout imperial propoganda. Not all republic activity on coruscant ceased as a few Secret Intelligence Service (republic CIA) agents stuck behind. It was a risky business operating in business territory as getting caught would result in a public execution. It was also difficult to transmit information to the republic since the coruscant I part of the holiness was now controlled by the empire.

Back on coruscant, it was nighttime in Aldera and everyone went to sleep in preparation for a long day of planning ahead for them.


	8. Mission to Mygeeto

**Surviving the Caves:**

Anakin watched the caves for four hours then went to sleep as delta squad took shift for another four hours. Nothing happened in that time duration. When it was morning, Anakin and delta squad knew they they had to get off world soon but didn't know how. "Well," said Scorch, "if we go out there, we'll freeze but if we stay here, we'll starve to death". "And we'll never be able to use the crystal against the empire." he added. "So what do we do?" asked boss. "Hmm," replied Anakin, "this facility seems conveniently placed over a seemingly large network of caverns". "Aaand" replied Scorch. "Well," said Anakin, "I figured that this is a mining facility and we could hitch a ride on whatever they use to bring it up". "There is one massive flaw in your plan." replied fixer, "Without the crystal, the separatists can't move their mining operations along so I highly doubt we'll see anything going down". "But" he continued, "we could scale one of the mountains and steal one of their ships over the night". "But what about the blizzard?" asked boss, "General Skywalker cannot withstand the immense cold on the surface". "I say we skin the animal and skywalker can use it as a coat." said Scorch. "Can we really tell when it's dark with the blizzard?" asked Anakin. "Well my HUD says that the sun is at its peak for Mygeeto," replied fixer, "and the planet makes a full rotation in 12 hours". "However," added fixer, "the blizzard tends to be worse at night". "How do you know all these things?" asked Anakin. "When you're the best of the best," replied boss, "you have to be prepared for anything that could go wrong".

After waiting 6 hours, the sun was down and the group decided to scale the mountain. It was too windy for jetpacks and it was too high for grappling hooks so they had to resort to climbing. Fortunately, Anakin was able to climb quickly and get above the turbulent storm. Eventually, delta squad caught up and they were right underneath one of the platforms. There was a nemodian shuttle to the left and upward but they would risk being spotted. So Scorch pulled out a few attachable thermal detonators, used his magnetic gloves to place them where needed, and detonated them as a diversion. The group used this opportunity to reach the shuttle and take off. Since the fleet was a ways away when they got into space and orbited quickly along the northern hemisphere of Mygeeto, Anakin took the shuttle over the polar regions and entered hyperspace.

2.5 days later, Admiral Yuralen reported bad news and Anakin and Delta Squad were officially declared "killed in action".

6 hours later, a nemodian shuttle came out of hyperspace over Alderaan. Since it was an enemy ship which could have been carrying something sinister, one of the republic cruisers opened fire. On the bridge, there was a transmission from Anakin skywalker. "This is Anakin skywalker, do you read me?" the transmission said. "Yes, we absolutely read you." Admiral Yuralen replied. "We have returned from a mission." Anakin said. "How did you survive?" Yuralen asked. "It's a long story." replied Anakin. "Well I'm just glad you're alive." Yuralen replied.

The shuttle reached the planet's surface and got permission to land at Alder. As Anakin and delta squad came out, they were greeted by Chancellor Palpatine. "Ah, Anakin," said the chancellor, "we were just about mourn your deaths when we recieved a transmission from admiral Yuralen, saying that you turned out to be alive". "Sir, we got the energy crystal." Boss said. "Wonderful," said palpatine, "just take it to the labs. Anakin, come with me".

Delta squad and Anakin parted ways as he and palpatine made their way to his new office. "I'm so glad to hear that you're alive." said palpatine. "I guess it's because I'm the chosen one." replied Anakin. "Say, Anakin" replied palpatine, "do you ever feel like the Jedi are using you?" asked palpatine. "Not really," replied Anakin, "but I don't always follow orders unquestionably". "So you do sometimes question the Jedis' motives." Palpatine said. "Well," said Anakin, "it's not that I don't trust them, it's that I don't think they always know best. I mean they forbid attachments and they force you to shut away your emotions". "Very true," palpatine said, "they're more of a cult if anything". "And they hold me back." Anakin said, "And I don't know why". "It's probably because of your great connection to the force." Palpatine replied, "they fear that if they don't assert themselves over you that you'll challenge them". "The Jedi would never do this to me." Anakin said. "Anakin," Palpatine replied, "don't be this naive. You know deep down that they just want to keep you all to themselves don't you". Anakin was unable to think of a response but then palpatine added, "but we do need the Jedi in order to defeat the empire". "After we defeat the empire or sign an armistice like last time," continued palpatine, "we can isolate the order and possibly make you overseer of their operations". Anakin heard a beep from his comlink. Anakin answered it, "skywalker," said windu, "we need you at the communications room." the transmission ended. "Well, looks like the council needs me." said Anakin. "Goodbye Anakin," said palpatine; "it was a good talk." said Anakin.

Once Anakin arrived at the communication room, he was greeted by windu, obi wan, and yoda. "What is it masters." asked Anakin. "A success, the missions were." answered yoda. "missions?" said Anakin wondering. "In addition to sending you to Mygeeto, we sent other skilled Jedi to other planets to disrupt separatist operations." Windu replied. "For example, I was sent to Felucia to apprehend the CEO of the commerce guild," added obi wan, "as it turns out, all we had to do was drop an ion bomb on her hideout and the only thing between us were a few droid fighter stations". "Plo Koon was tasked with ending the separatist occupation of Utapau, Luminara Unduli was tasked with destroying the cloning facilities on Saleicami, and Aala Secura was sent to a lifeless but metal-rich planet which was a shipyard." windu said, "there are far more missions needed to cripple the separatists so that we can focus on the empire but for now, enjoy your rest, you've earned it. However, I do recommend that you use that time to prepare for your next mission".


	9. Escape from Mygeeto

**Surviving the Caves:**

Anakin watched the caves for four hours then went to sleep as delta squad took shift for another four hours. Nothing happened in that time duration. When it was morning, Anakin and delta squad knew they they had to get off world soon but didn't know how. "Well," said Scorch, "if we go out there, we'll freeze but if we stay here, we'll starve to death". "And we'll never be able to use the crystal against the empire." he added. "So what do we do?" asked boss. "Hmm," replied Anakin, "this facility seems conveniently placed over a seemingly large network of caverns". "Aaand" replied Scorch. "Well," said Anakin, "I figured that this is a mining facility and we could hitch a ride on whatever they use to bring it up". "There is one massive flaw in your plan." replied fixer, "Without the crystal, the separatists can't move their mining operations along so I highly doubt we'll see anything going down". "But" he continued, "we could scale one of the mountains and steal one of their ships over the night". "But what about the blizzard?" asked boss, "General Skywalker cannot withstand the immense cold on the surface". "I say we skin the animal and skywalker can use it as a coat." said Scorch. "Can we really tell when it's dark with the blizzard?" asked Anakin. "Well my HUD says that the sun is at its peak for Mygeeto," replied fixer, "and the planet makes a full rotation in 12 hours". "However," added fixer, "the blizzard tends to be worse at night". "How do you know all these things?" asked Anakin. "When you're the best of the best," replied boss, "you have to be prepared for anything that could go wrong".

After waiting 6 hours, the sun was down and the group decided to scale the mountain. It was too windy for jetpacks and it was too high for grappling hooks so they had to resort to climbing. Fortunately, Anakin was able to climb quickly and get above the turbulent storm. Eventually, delta squad caught up and they were right underneath one of the platforms. There was a nemodian shuttle to the left and upward but they would risk being spotted. So Scorch pulled out a few attachable thermal detonators, used his magnetic gloves to place them where needed, and detonated them as a diversion. The group used this opportunity to reach the shuttle and take off. Since the fleet was a ways away when they got into space and orbited quickly along the northern hemisphere of Mygeeto, Anakin took the shuttle over the polar regions and entered hyperspace.

2.5 days later, Admiral Yuralen reported bad news and Anakin and Delta Squad were officially declared "killed in action".

6 hours later, a nemodian shuttle came out of hyperspace over Alderaan. Since it was an enemy ship which could have been carrying something sinister, one of the republic cruisers opened fire. On the bridge, there was a transmission from Anakin skywalker. "This is Anakin skywalker, do you read me?" the transmission said. "Yes, we absolutely read you." Admiral Yuralen replied. "We have returned from a mission." Anakin said. "How did you survive?" Yuralen asked. "It's a long story." replied Anakin. "Well I'm just glad you're alive." Yuralen replied.

The shuttle reached the planet's surface and got permission to land at Alder. As Anakin and delta squad came out, they were greeted by Chancellor Palpatine. "Ah, Anakin," said the chancellor, "we were just about mourn your deaths when we recieved a transmission from admiral Yuralen, saying that you turned out to be alive". "Sir, we got the energy crystal." Boss said. "Wonderful," said palpatine, "just take it to the labs. Anakin, come with me".

Delta squad and Anakin parted ways as he and palpatine made their way to his new office. "I'm so glad to hear that you're alive." said palpatine. "I guess it's because I'm the chosen one." replied Anakin. "Say, Anakin" replied palpatine, "do you ever feel like the Jedi are using you?" asked palpatine. "Not really," replied Anakin, "but I don't always follow orders unquestionably". "So you do sometimes question the Jedis' motives." Palpatine said. "Well," said Anakin, "it's not that I don't trust them, it's that I don't think they always know best. I mean they forbid attachments and they force you to shut away your emotions". "Very true," palpatine said, "they're more of a cult if anything". "And they hold me back." Anakin said, "And I don't know why". "It's probably because of your great connection to the force." Palpatine replied, "they fear that if they don't assert themselves over you that you'll challenge them". "The Jedi would never do this to me." Anakin said. "Anakin," Palpatine replied, "don't be this naive. You know deep down that they just want to keep you all to themselves don't you". Anakin was unable to think of a response but then palpatine added, "but we do need the Jedi in order to defeat the empire". "After we defeat the empire or sign an armistice like last time," continued palpatine, "we can isolate the order and possibly make you overseer of their operations". Anakin heard a beep from his comlink. Anakin answered it, "skywalker," said windu, "we need you at the communications room." the transmission ended. "Well, looks like the council needs me." said Anakin. "Goodbye Anakin," said palpatine; "it was a good talk." said Anakin.

Once Anakin arrived at the communication room, he was greeted by windu, obi wan, and yoda. "What is it masters." asked Anakin. "A success, the missions were." answered yoda. "missions?" said Anakin wondering. "In addition to sending you to Mygeeto, we sent other skilled Jedi to other planets to disrupt separatist operations." Windu replied. "For example, I was sent to Felucia to apprehend the CEO of the commerce guild," added obi wan, "as it turns out, all we had to do was drop an ion bomb on her hideout and the only thing between us were a few droid fighter stations". "Plo Koon was tasked with ending the separatist occupation of Utapau, Luminara Unduli was tasked with destroying the cloning facilities on Saleicami, and Aala Secura was sent to a lifeless but metal-rich planet which was a shipyard." windu said, "there are far more missions needed to cripple the separatists so that we can focus on the empire but for now, enjoy your rest, you've earned it. However, I do recommend that you use that time to prepare for your next mission".


	10. Adventures on Hypori

Anakin had a total of 1 week off. He took Padme out to dinner and they discussed their future plans of possibly ditching their careers to start a family in naboo.

Over the next few days, Anakin also met with chancellor palpatine for lunch in a very exclusive club. "By the way," Palpatine said, "congratulations on retrieving the crystal from Mygeeto. Sorry I didn't bring it up when we met yesterday". "It's alright," Anakin replied, "the Jedi council hasn't praised me quite a few times and you don't see me griping about it". "I'd like to concur," replied palpatine, "based on the things you told me concerning them". "It's not that," said Anakin, "it's that the republic needs to do more and the Jedi are holding them back, they're holding me back". "I have to agree with you, "said chancellor, "the Jedi always use the slippery slope argument whenever we propose a powerful weapon which could end the war easily". Well," replied Anakin, "they don't want as many civilians to die". "War is an ugly thing," said palpatine, "sometimes, you have to kill millions of innocents in order to save a trillion". They remained silent until shortly after their food arrived; "it's a good thing you took the crystal from Mygeeto because now the empire is besieging the planet as we speak; they'll probably take the planet quickly as a result of your actions". "I guess we're not the only ones going after the separatists." Anakin said. "No we aren't." Palpatine replied, "It's almost like we don't have to fight the separatists cause the empire is doing the fighting for us". "The planet Mygeeto quickly falling to the empire is still better than them taking a month and getting that energy crystal." Anakin replied. Eventually they finished their lunch and went to palpatine's office. "Does it ever strike you as odd," Palpatine said, "that the empire which came from the unknown regions, knows exactly where to strike?". "Sort of." Anakin replied. "It seems to me," Palpatine said, "that the empire has an intelligence agency just as sophisticated if not more so than the SIS. "What do you mean?" Anakin asked. "In my opinion," Palpatine answered, "the empire picked the perfect time to strike; the republic is divided, most of our forces are far away from the core world's as they can be, and the clones are only 7 million strong whereas the empire has at least 7 billion". "You make it seem like the republic is doomed." Anakin said. "Not quite," replied palpatine, "you see, the sith believe in the rule of the strongest; if you were to challenge and successfully defeat mslgus in battle, you would become their new emperor". "Of course the Jedi would never approve of such a plan." replied palpatine, "they'll probably continue with their failed schemes to take on the empire and the separatists". "But most of the missions which the Jedi were sent are successful." Anakin refuted. "The republic is withdrawing its forces from the outer rim" replied palpatine, "soon they will regain lost territory. Even if the Jedi are successful in destroying a few droid factories, the separatists will receive more benefit from our regression in the outer rim. Carrying out hit and run attacks give a sense of desperation and will encourage rapid expansion". Anakin and palpatine talked for many hours, "oh I'd love to chat with you more," Palpatine said, "but I have dire matters to attend to". ""It's alright palpatine," Anakin replied. Then Abakin left

Skywalker spent the rest of the week training, conversing with the Jedi, and spending more time with Padme.

After a week, skywalker recieved his next mission, "General Skywalker," yoda said, "go to Hypori you must". "Hypori has served as the backbone of battle droid production since Geonosis fell to our forces," windu added, "we tried taking the planet early on in the war, but we failed." "Going with delta squad to destroy the factory, you will." Yoda said. "So if the first attempt was unsuccessful," Anakin said, "then what makes you think we'll succeed this time?" "You won't be going at it alone," windu replied, "we will send an entire fleet of republic ships to assist you". "I probably won't need delta squad," Anakin said, "all I have to do is bomb that factory from the sky". "There's a shield protecting the droid foundry," windu responded, "you'll have to make an assault on the ground".

So Anakin and delta squad boarded a republic cruiser about ready to make their attack. The ship's went into hyperspace on their way to Hypori. A few days later, the fleet arrived in the planet's vicinity. Although there was a confederate fleet over Hypori, it was in an orbit which lasted 6 hours so they had a 40% chance of spotting the republic fleet. Fortunately, the odds played in favor of the republic and the ship's got into position to land gunships. However, space mines exploded heavily damaging the ships. The cruisers still deployed gunships; in one of these gunships were Anakin and delta squad. Since the factory was very important to the separatist war effort, it also held a large presence of those sonic turrets from Geonosis, numerous droid and geonosian personnel, and anti aircraft turrets, not to mention the shield. The clones assaulted the more fortified part of the foundry while Anakin and delta squad landed from behind.

While Anakin and delta squad were infiltrating the factory Anakin felt a vibration from his comlink, "General skywalker, "said Yuralen, "the separatist fleet has found our ships and they're bringing us down". Anakin hung up. "Who was that?" whispered boss. "It was admiral Yuralen," Anakin answered, "he said that our ships are going down". "Then we better hurry," whispered boss. the 5, after fighting their way through the hallways of the droid factory, finally got to the main reactor. There, scorch drilled in the charges but they were surrounded by droids as the invasion force was losing thanks to the separatist air support. One of the droids showed a transmission coming from the tactical droid, "looks like you have been outgunned, General skywalker." The droid said. "Not quite," answered Anakin; the droids were confused. "Goodbye General Skywalker." the tactical droid said as the other droids pointed their weapons at Anakin and delta squad. "IF WE DIE," shouted scorch, "YOU'RE GOING WITH US!". Scorch was holding the detonator as the droids hesitated. Soon, the battle droids began making a run for it as the tactical droid looked displeased. Jaywalker and delta squad walked out as droids were panicking. They were at a safe proximity from the factory when Anakin got a call on his transmitter, "General skywalker," said the tactical droid, "it seems that you outsmarted us but unfortunately for you..." "I don't have time for monologues," replied Anakin , "scorch" "yes sir?"said scorch. "Blow this thing to..." "We're holding you army hostage," said the droid, "and I ordered my forces to execute them all should you blow up our factory". "And how do I know you'll keep you word if I don't?" Anakin questioned. "You will all be held captive," answered the droid, "until we can negotiable a prisoner exchange". "And how do I know this aint some trick up your sleeve?" asked Anakin. The droid showed the holograms of Admiral Yuralen and other clones being held at gunpoint.

Will Anakin and delta squad blow up the factory, which would lead to the execution of many of his soldiers or will he surrender and be held prisoner until the republic frees key separatist leaders?


	11. The Choice

**The Choice**

"you're the one who gives the order." said scorch. Anakin really hesitated: on one hand, he had republic captives but on the other, he could cripple the confederacy by blowing up the droid foundry. He thought about it for a minute. Then,

Anakin, remembering what palpatine said, made the choice.

Meanwhile, Darth Sideous was making a call to Serenno where Count Dooku lived, "yes my lord?" Dooku asked. "As you probably already know," Sideous answered, "the hidden empire has returned. They are in control of the republic capital, coruscant. This puts our plans in great danger". "But my lord," responded Dooku, "I thought the hidden empire was a myth". "Darth Bane knew what he was saying," said Sideous "when he wrote about a slumbering power in the unknown regions". "I propose that we defeat Malgus togethah," suggested Dooku, "and his empire will fall". "The empire will not take kindly to any ships coming from republic controlled space." Sideous said. "You could direct the republic war effort on retaking lost republic worlds and lead a campaign in the unknown regions." Dooku said, "and while this is happening, we can retake our lost territories and claim some more while the republic is busy fighting the empire". "But then the republic would resent an empire once I turned it into one". "So what do you plan?" Dooku asked. "I have my own plans," replied Sideous. "In other news, SIS agents have reported a large gathering of imperial destroyers; since they captured both the senate and the Jedi temple, they now have both halves in of the nexus route, a route which directly links our capitals. I have refrained from providing the Jedi my half to prolong the war under the guise of preventing members of the separatists from attaining it". "Very well then," replied Dooku,"I will move my forces along with General Grievous to defend our capital". "May the dark side prevail." said Sideous. "May the force be with us all." said Dooku. The transmission ended. After that, he called General Grievous, "what is it my lord" said grevious. "The sith are readying to attack the capital," answered Dooku, "you must move your fleet to Raxus". "Will be done my lord." said Grievous.

When the empire did launch their attack, they did so with 10 star destroyers. They flew over the separatist ships and made quick work of the banking clan ships (the really common separatist ships) and the trade federation cruiser but grievous got in an escape pod to the surface. There were 2 trade federation battleships (ring ships from phantom menace) which were much more challenging. There was a level 5 separatist space station which launched missiles at the star destroyers. Before the destruction of the separatist ships, they launched attack pods which would cut into the ship and release their attack force. From the point of view of one soldier, the alarm went off and this came though the speakers: _Warning! A breach in hallway 12 has been detected. Source: enemy ship. Please send armed personnel to investigate._ A few soldiers before him went to the breach area to investigate. Super battle droids began coming out and killed off the soldiers one by one. Scared for his life, he closed the blast door and didn't look back. Since they were the slow but strong ones from the clone wars, they shot the door down. He took cover behind a corner and began shooting the droids but they were practically invincible so he threw a feed and at them taking out a few and fled.

Meanwhile, Palpatine and the Jedi council get a call from count Dooku, "what is it count." Windu said confrontationally. "Our forces on Hypori have subdued skywalker and delta squad." Dooku replied, "in return for their safe passage back to the core world's, we demand the release of commerce Guild leader Shu Mai and the return of the energy collector crystal". The Jedi council debated the issue since the crystal could help them defeat the empire but Anakin was also a valuable asset but eventually, it was decided to make the exchange.

This exchange was made on Tatooine, a neutral world near separatist space. The Jedi were surprised to witness a separatist landing ship. The doors opened and out came clone prisoners. The clone holding the casing with the crystal in it set it down and the droids picked it up and took it to their shuttle where out came Anakin and delta squad, both were released after Shu Mai was released.

Anakin and delta squad were taken back to Alderaan in the war room (communications room). "So did you destroy the foundry?" Windu asked. "No we didn't," Anakin answered, "they held my invasion force captive and held them at gunpoint. I thought about it for a bit then realized that the separatists likely have other factories but our clones are so few in number". "Our failure in Hypori was unfortunate," windu said, "meanwhile, the empire is making an assault on the separatist capital and has already taken Mygeeto, we may have given up the crystal to liberate you but at least the empire doesn't have it". "We could retake coruscant while the empire is occupied on Raxus." Anakin suggested. "The empire still has a large blockade over the planet," Windu replied, "taking coruscant would be nearly impossible". "So what's our plan?" Anakin asked. "We will have to defend the core worlds" Windu said, "until the SIS gives us better intel on imperial territory". "But the time to act is now," replied Anakin," while the empire is busy attacking the separatists". "Our cruisers are not suited to go up against those imperial capital ships." Windu said. "We should send a few Jedi to coruscant to take out Malgus and put the empire in disarray." Anakin suggested. "Rely on a central authority, our previous sith adversaries have." Yoda said, "however, heavily guarded, the emperor is; an easy task, this will not be". "and how do we know that Malgus is still at the senate executive building and not some planet in the unknown region?" Windu asked. Anakin spent 35 seconds trying to think of an answer, then, "Revan took down Darth Malak at the star forge," he answered, "I suppose Malak was also heavily guarded". "Good point," Windu responded, "but even if you do manage to kill Malgus," Windu said, "how will you survive the imperial occupation?". "Coruscant has an underworld," Anakin answered, "I can survive there until the republic makes its assault to retake coruscant". "That's too risky." said Windu. "I've always been in risky situations and come out of each one unscathed." Anakin replied. "Until we can confirm the location of Emperor Malgus," Windu said, "you will not be sent to take him out".

Back at the space battle over Raxus, all of the separatist capital ships had been destroyed but the imperial ships were infested with droids. Darth Necros, who was leading the assault on the capital, went with a few imperial troopers to take care of the droid problem. His apprentice, Kel Dracon, went with another group of troops to defend the reactor area. Soon, necros got a call from an imperial trooper in the reacor area of another ship, "My lord," he said, "there are separatist pods which have punctured into the reactor area but they have no droids in them". "Investigate the pods," Darth Necros replied, "make sure they aren't explosives set to puncture a hole in the ship". "Will do sir." the trooper replied. 5 minutes later, Necros got another call from the same trooper, "sir," the trooper said, "we found mines which are being planted on the main reactor. We're trying to find the source but if we don't safely deactivate those mines, the ship's gonna blow". Necros then heard laser fire then an explosion which abruptly ended the transmission.


	12. Imperial Conquests

**Onslaught of the Sith Empire:**

Darth Necros went into contact with Kel Dracon, "Yes master?" dracon asked. "A nearby dreadnought was destroyed by mines on the reactor," Necros replied, "are there any separatist pods which look empty?". "yes" dracon answered. "Then search the reactor for any mines," Necros said, "do not let this ship go down". The transmission ended. So the entire reactor was searched for any mines and a mine suddenly appeared. Dracon used the force to grab the mine and fling it out allowing it to explode at a safe distance. Another mine suddenly appeared and Dracon slashed his blade to above where it was and a chameleon droid was sliced in half.

After nearly an hour, all the droids in the imperial ships were destroyed and the empire was able to invade. A transmission was sent to the separatist senate. Most of the senators were evacuated but the ones who chose to ignore the warnings saw this message from Darth Malgus:

 _Senators of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, I humbly ask you to surrender to the Imperial might. Our forces have befallen the Republic capital of Coruscant. Surrender to the empire and you will live the rest of your life peacefully. If you don't, the empire will bombard your capital and you will be prisoners._

The transmission ended and most of the senators surrendered and the capital city was spared. The planet was occupied and the remaining senators who did not surrender were taken prisoner and were taken away, possibly to a correction center, a prison, or even being executed.

Since a week had passed, more separatist worlds were taken by the empire. In that time, the empire launched an invasion on Serrenno, Dooku's home. The imperial drednoughts made quick work of the separatist ships over the planet. Then Darth Velcrus, the one leading the attack, send Dooku a message, "you don't have to be part of palpatine's schemes." Velcrus said, "you can join us and possibly be put on the dark council". Dooku thought about the offer for 10 seconds then replied with this, "If I were to defect from the CIS, Darth Sideous would destroy me". "If you will not join us," replied Velcrus, "then you will be destroyed by might of the empire". "Darth Sideous has taught me many secrets of the dark side in addition to techniques learned by myself," Dooku responded, "I believe you would be quite surprised". Velcrus turned off the transmission. "It seems like nobody these days are courteous enough as to say their goodbyes when ending their transmission." Dooku said in response to Velcrus hanging up.

The Imperial ground forces encircled Dooku's palace after most of the droid forces on the ground were wiped clean by laser strikes from fighters specially designed to carry out precision strikes (unlike bombers which have more explosive power but are less accurate). The palace was not bombed from space because of the numerous times in which a Jedi or sith escaped a structure going down or space station exploding so Velcrus decided to confront Dooku in person along with some help. The troops subdued any droids which were in the palace. Finally, Velcrus reached Count Dooku's quarters as Dooku was sitting at his desk and casually got up. "I take it you don't take no for an answer." Dooku said smirkingly. "Staying with the separatists is a mistake," replied Velcrus, "the empire can give you so much more; there may not be any empty seats but you can easily be on the dark council". "Darth Sideous has promised me being second in command," replied Dooku, "of a new order under a new identity". "Your master seems particularly fond of Anakin skywalker." responded Velcrus. "In time he will be one of us." replied Dooku. "And I thought there could be only two." Velcrus reminded him. "Your master is trying to get rid of you, join us. With your control of the droid army, we can destroy the republic once and for all". Dooku thought about the offer for awhile then gave in.

Count Dooku sent the separatist leaders to Mustafar under the pretext of him going into hiding and the rest leading the confederacy from a hidden planet. Soon, an imperial ship arrived at the Mustafar system and a few shuttles came out. They landed at the planet with several troops and 2 sith. They made quick work of the droids and killed the entire separatist council. General Grevious was quick to join the empire due to his hatred of the Jedi being his motive for joining the confederacy. After the raid on Mustafar, the droids were no longer a threat, they were now under the control of the empire.

Meanwhile, the republic was still on the defense but this would have to change if the empire obtained a droid army but without an extra threat, defeating the empire would be nearly impossible.


	13. Move to Corellia

**Corellia:**

A day after the raid on Mustafar, Anakin was summoned to Palpatine's office at noon once again where like always, Mace Windu and Yoda with an addition of Obi Wan and obviously, Chancellor Palpatine. "What is it, masters?" asked Anakin. "Yesterday, the droid army joined the empire and the confederacy dissolved." informed Windu, "an hour ago, the SIS reported an imperial buildup at nearby worlds". "Moving our temporary capital to Corellia we are." Yoda clarified. "The green Jedi have allowed us to use their temple," Windu said, "until we retake Coruscant, Corellia is our capital".

Anakin spent the rest of the day helping the Jedi and Chancellor load stuff onto shuttles to be taken to Corellia. Padme Amidala also left the planet despite being a well known risktaker. She almost decided to stay on Coruscant to vote against the clone bill while she was being hunted by Jango Fett and the time when she traveled to Alderaan in spite of Ahsoka warning her that bounty hunter, Aurra Sing was waiting to kill her; but she made those risks because they had rewards; her only reward for staying on Alderaan would be getting executed by the empire. However, Bail Organa chose to stay on the planet to represent it during the hard times. Skywalker and the group arrived at the planet when it was 10:06 pm for Alder but it was 2:06 pm for Coronet city, the capital of Corellia. Anakin went with Palpatine while the rest of the Jedi went to their new temple.

Skywalker was quite impressed with the sights; the buildings were as tall as they were on Coruscant but the planet wasn't consumed in an entire city. Most of the SWTOR era buildings in Coronet were torn down to make way for these kilometer-tall monoliths but the ones which weren't, became landmarks. The city used to rely on rocket trams for transportation but over the course of 3,600 years, this was phased out for one of those floating trains like those on Coruscant and light railed transport. Landspeeders were a rather common way to travel the city long ago but although landspeeders are still used, the rise of skyscrapers have introduced flying cars into Coronet city. A Corellian fort built long ago called "bastion" was very famous for its armory and its security; nowadays, it's a museum. Though Coronet was the largest city on the planet with 120 million, there were other cities like it. 80% of Corellia's 52 billion population lived in these cities. Those who didn't lived in small settlements and were mostly agrarians.

Anakin and Palpatine took a luxury taxi reserved for politicians to the Coronet Executive House. He went with palpatine the governor's office which would be Palpatine's temporary office, "why wasn't this our capital instead of Alderaan?" Anakin asked. "Because my dear boy," answered Palpatine, "Alderaan is a symbol of hope; we wanted to demonstrate that the loss of Coruscant was temporary. Plus the tranquil nature of the planet made for a good training ground for the Jedi". "I still think Corellia is a better capital." replied Anakin. "I have to agree with you Anakin," said palpatine, "the Jedi convinced me to move the capital to Alderaan first because they wanted to better get in touch with nature and provide a tranquil training ground for their younglings. But Coronet city is better suited to being the capital of the Republic". "When will we ever fight back against the empire?" asked Anakin, "we've been dodging them for months now and they still have Coruscant". "Actually," said Palpatine, "the republic military has been working on a project known as the Pride of the Core; have you heard of it?" "No" replied Anakin. "Good because it's classified," replied Palpatine, "but it is only 1 month from completion. This ship is twice as long as the malevolence and almost as wide as the malevolence was long; it will allow us to drive the empire out of the core worlds and allow us to enter the unknown regions". "We can finally end this war." expressed Anakin. "I only hope that the Chancellor who takes my place will rebuild the Republic so that a separatist uprising does not happen again." said Palpatine, "Hopefully the jedi won't meddle as much after the war is over". "They won't," said Anakin, "they always go back to being isolationists when the Republic is safe". "I wouldn't be too sure," said Palpatine, "politicians always say that their excessive meddling is temporary and will end once the emergency is over but they always end up with more power than before the crisis and the jedi are no different. I fear that one day, the jedi will have a large influence over the senate". "the jedi don't seek power," said anakin, "at least they're not supposed to".

After a few more minutes, Anakin left for the Green Jedi Temple. So he got into a gunship going to the temple. This was a newer temple constructed in the outskirts of Coronet; the old one near the center felt too small compared with the surrounding tall buildings. Since the Green Jedi were only 50 compared to 300 for the mainstream order, the temple was obviously smaller but it would do until the Jedi retook Coruscant.

Anakin entered the temple and saw jedi in green robes. One of them directed Skywalker to the Green Jedi Council chamber. There were only 5 council members unlike the regular order which had 12; there was a black male, white female, 2 white males, and a male twilek. "So you must be Anakin Skywalker." the black guy said. "Yes, I am" Anakin replied. "We are the green jedi," the female said, "you probably heard of us from Jedi history in... what year?". "Year 7" Anakin replied". "Indeed, we don't have much to do with anything outside of the Corellian system," the black one said, "but it is only a matter of time before the empire invades corellia". "I have a question," Anakin said, "why do you stay within Corellia?" "Because the Corellian banner runs in our veins." He said, "Plus we tend to stay neutral in conflicts unlike the jedi who constantly side wholeheartedly with the republic". "The jedi never wanted to fight in the clone wars." Anakin responded. "Then the jedi should have remained neutral and helped negotiate a ceasefire" replied the council member. "The CIS was being led by a sith lord and a jedi hunter!" Anakin expressed (but not yelled). "This wouldn't have happened if the jedi did their jobs as peacekeepers of the galaxy and not supersoldiers of the republic" responded the council member. Anakin was speechless for a little bit, "I do think sometimes that the jedi ways are questionable, and that they often break their own code". "That is probably the number one reason that we are not part of the official order," the council member said, "Anyways, I fear that I sidetracked us, my name is Baraga Thatch, I am the grand master of the Corellian Jedi Order." Thatch said, indroducing himself, "The regular jedi council was trying to convince us to aid them in destroying the sith empire". "And?" Anakin asked. "We came to a unanimous decision to fight the empire, even outside our borders, until it is destroyed". "Seems rather surprising considering your strict neutrality." said Anakin. "The empire seeks to destroy all things Jedi and democratic, the very two things which we stand for," Master Thatch answered, "plus Master Yoda puts up convincing arguments".

The two talked a bit longer then it ended. The regular Jedi were all asleep due to the change in time zone (3:36 pm for Corellia is 11:36 for Alderaan).


	14. Invasion of Alderaan

**Invasion of Alderaan:**

Although most of the senators on Alderaan relocated to Cotellia, Bail Organa Chose to stay in its capital, Alder to be with his people. Most of the Jedi relocated to the green Jedi temple but Aala Secura and Luminara Unduli chose to stay along with their legions. Unlike Coruscant, the planet had a planetary shield which prevented orbital bombardment but allowed fighters to bypass it. This was because the shield was sparse long the planet's lower thermosphere and it blocked lasers as well as burning meteors but did not stop starfighters. In addition to this, Alderaan had a grade 4 space station (not as powerful as Coruscant's grade 5 space station) in orbit in addition to 10 republic ships.

On 11:45 am AST (Aldera standard time), the very next day after most of the Jedi left, 9 imperial ships came out of hyperspace along with 10 banking clan ships, 2 trade federation cruisers, and 1 trade federation battleship; the republic fleet was ill prepared to deal with the combined force of the droid army and the imperial might. Despite the republic's best efforts, the fleet was broken in 23 minutes.

Trade federation landing craft (used in he phantom menace in the invasion of naboo) took imperial stormtroopers and droids down to the surface. The ship's landed far away from potential republic targets to avoid trouble landing. Bombers were not used because of satellite images reporting anti aircraft artillery.

So the imperials were advancing through the forest, towards the capital, led by General Grievous. Aala Secura set up an ambush; her forces consisted of clone troopers along with Alderaanian guerillas. These guerrillas were not like the Coruscanti who volunteered to help the clones resist the Empire; they were special forces trained on Alderaan; some had rocket launchers while others had exported rifles from the Republic. Aala hopped from tree to tree and then gave the signal to attack. The guerrillas and clones fired upon the imperial troops, killing a few. 2 rockets were fired on an imperial walker (looked different than an AT-ST though) destroying it. The invasion force was destracted by the ambush and Aala Secura seized her opportunity to jump down and break down an AAT tank with her lightsaber then ran under an MTT carrier, demobilizing it. She then took cover behind the imoblilized tank to avoid gunfire. Then she used the force to pull an imperial trooper towards her then she sliced him in half. All the sudden, a pureblood sith lunged at her and they had a lightsaber duel. Although Secura was a jedi council member while the pureblood was a moderate sith, Aala Secura was shot by an imperial trooper and as she was deflecting his gunfire, she got sliced in half along the abdomen leaving a very painful death for the blue jedi. Imperial troopers rushed up to fight the guerillas but were gunned down along with a few guerrillas who were killed by imperial gunfire. The ambushers were finished when the droids on Staps gunned them down.

Elsewhere on Alderaan, other Alderaanians set up ambushes and harassed the imperial invasion. Imperial forces were about ready to storm the planet when republic gunships rained fire upon the empire; the capital of Alderaan was spared. Less than a day after the invasion began, the Empire withdrew its forces from Alderaan and formed a blockade instead.


	15. Uncertain Times

**Times of Uncertainty:**

During the Alderaanian invasion, Skywalker received news of the invasion of Alderaan via holonet. He was upset that the Republic and Jedi Order has forsaken test another Core world. Obi Wan was being sent to Balmorra to defend the weapons depot of the Republic.

The Jedi Council set up a conference at ruins on top of a snowy mountain (the same place where the rebellion was officially formed in force unleashed). In addition to all of the living council members, Anakin and the Corellian Jedi Council were also part of the conference:

"We will not win against the empire if we continue pulling back," said Baraga Thatch, "we need to attack the empire while its busy with Coruscant".

"We placed a moderately powerful fleet which was capable of holding off any separatist attack," read ponder Windu, "but our ships aren't equipped to go up against the kind which the imperials have".

"More equipped to be an all purpose cruiser and deal with enemy fighters, our cruisers were," Yoda added, "but designed to wipe out enemy cruisers and invoke fear, the imperial dreadnoughts are".

"But that means the imperial ships are vulnerable to our fighters," Anakin said, coming up with an idea, "we can overwhelm them with our bombers; the imperial ships don't look like they hold that many fighters".

"But their shields are so powerful," replied Master Luminara Unduli, "even with our significant advantage in fighters, we have not been able to exploit their weakness".

"We can halt our production on fighters and double our production of bombers." answered Anakin.

"That sounds a bit risky." replied Aala Secura.

"Says the woman who said she was gonna lead a suicidal ambush against the Empire." replied Anakin.

The Jedi continued the military conference, talking about logistics, the possible difficulties of taking so much land from the Empire when they only have a few planets left to defend, and the atrocities committed by the Empire such as the bombings of Mon Cala (which were accompanied by the executions of King Lee Char and Admiral Ackbar), the Geonosian genocide, and the merciless executions of Separatist corporate leaders who weren't on Mustafar. They also denied Skywalker's strategy, saying it was too risky.

After the military conference was over, Anakin payed a visit to Palpatine's office,

"Ah Anakin," said Palpatine, "and what brings you to my office on this fine evening?"

"The Jedi are too cowardly to attack the Empire." Skywalker said frustratedly.

"This reminds me of a war 4,000 years ago," remarked Palpatine, "In that war, the Jedi went up against the Mandalornians who were aggressively expanding and clearly posed a threat to the Republic. Similar to this case, the Jedi held back on an offence, saying that it was too risky. One Jedi named Revan wasn't quite fond of the Jedis' decision to hold back so he led a group of Jedi and Republic soldiers who defied the Council's orders and undermined the Mandalornian war effort. In the last battle of the war, Revan constructed a massive generator which devastated the planet Malachor V and with it, the mandalornian armies".

"So you're saying that in order to win this war, we need to take risks?"

"Precisely"

"The Jedi sure never learn from their mistakes in previous wars. Plus, they claim they're 'not warriors but peacekeepers' yet they have a heavy influence on our war effort. You're the Commander in Chief of the Republic's military, you should be in charge of the clone army, not them".

"Indeed, in fact after the war is over, the Jedi will probably use Malgus's accusation of me being a sith as a justification for removing me from power and perhaps install their own regime and abolish democracy".

"The jedi would never..."

"Anakin, don't tell me you're this naive as to think that a power hungry cult in control of our military doesn't have anything sinister up its sleeve".

Skywalker couldn't think of a defending argument for the Jedi for he has long had suspicions about the Jedi's motivations.

"You keep telling yourself that the Jedi order is righteous in all of its ways, but deep down inside, you know that they're conspiring to make a power grab don't you".

All throughout their conversation, Palpatine castes great doubts over Anakin on the Jedi Order.

After Anakin's conversation with Palpatine was finished, he paid a visit to Padme Amidala,

"so how are the twins?" asked Anakin.

"They're doing wonderful now that you're here." replied Amidala, "you know, I was thinking about what you said about quitting the Jedi order and I was also thinking of resigning as senator of Naboo".

"What? You can't just resign, how will we support them?"

"We..." "I'm just sick and tired of all this corruption in the senate. I honestly don't know what to do."

"Let's not focus on that right now Padme. Let's just hope the war is short and that we can start our family".

Anakin and Padme slept in the same bed that night. Skywalker had a blurry vision. In that vision, Senator Amidala and possibly a few other people were lined up, being guarded by imperial troopers. They were in a very open space where the execution was clearly public. In front of them was their commander possibly speaking to a crowd,

"these men and women have been found guilty of treason," the commander said, "let this be a warning to all who defy the Empire. READY, AIM, FIRE".

Padme Amidala fell to the floor bleeding out; she breathed her final breaths and died. Anakin woke up horrified and slowly walked out of the room with a tear down his eye. After about an hour of looking out the balcony, meditating on what this could mean, Padme noticed that her lover wasn't in bed with her and left her bedroom to find him in the common space,

"what's troubling you ani?" Padme asked.

"I had a vision," said Anakin, "and in that vision, you were being executed by the sith".

"I won't stay on a planet if it's going to be captured by the empire ani, I promise".

They both went back to bed with Anakin having a sense of fear in him.

The very next day, Anakin went to look for Master Yoda for guidance. He was in the gardens outside the green Jedi temple meditating. They both found a more private room, "have something important to discuss, do you skywalker?" Yoda asked.

"Yes master," Anakin replied, "I had a vision of Padme getting executed by the Empire".

"Seem very stressed about this, have you become."

"Padme and I are very close," Anakin responded, "it's not a romance but it's a close friendship".

"Sence something deeper, I do."

"There was a similar case where Ahsoka had a vision of Padme being assassinated by Aurra Sing so not really."

"Just know that fear is a path to the dark side, I can sense a great deal of fear in you".

"I've heard that time and time again, but it doesn't seem like many sith out there are afraid".

"Ah but fear can lead to anger which IS a path to the dark side; fear is only the first step in your descent on the dark path".

"So you're saying we should do nothing and just let her die?!"

"No, values the lives of others, the Jedi order does. Take great lengths to ensure her safety, we will. But uncertain times are these and foolish would it be to act so hastily. Attachment clouds judgement; this is why the order forbids attachments".

"But the vision felt so real; this can happen".

"Can or will? Always in motion is the future and many possible futures, there are".

Anakin left a little less worried and angry than he was before but still felt that Padme was in danger.

Skywalker was very confused and worried: the Republic was on its last legs, Yoda and Palpatine are feeding him two points of view on the Jedi which he is heavily conflicted on, and now his lover, Padme Amidala is likely destined to die at the hands of the Empire. He was watching the Corellian News Network which announced that Naboo had just fallen; he didn't know what to do. Maybe Padme and Anakin will start their family... whilst in hiding from the Sith. Unfortunately by the looks of the vision, it seemed far more likely that Padme would get executed for association with the Republic and sedition. Padme Amidala likewise was also looking out her window, anxious in these uncertain times. There want as much traffic as there was a few days ago as the Corellian government began rationing. They also began training soldiers to fight the empire for when the inevitable invasion occurs with the help of clone troopers and mercenaries. It is quite possible that the Republic can use its secret fleet to retake Coruscant and kill Malgus thereby knocking the empire off its balance. And the republic might even come back stronger; but at the moment, the empire is winning and unlike their predecessors and the Valkorian Empire, their emperor, Darth Malgus, doesn't seem too interested in making a treaty on the verge of victory.

This is the republic's darkest hour. These are uncertain times.


	16. Retreat to Kuat

**Stealth Attack:**

At around 3:40 am in Coronet, Anakin was swiftly woken up by Obi Wan, "Anakin," said Obi wan, "the Empire is invading Corellia!" "How come we didn't get much warning before hand?" asked Anakin. "It's a long story," replied Obi Wan, "we'll explain everything later". The 2 Jedi ran out of the green Jedi temple and into a gunship taking them to the spaceport which housed all of the Jedi starfighters; the Jedi took them to space. Fortunately, Corellia was behind its sun, delaying the imperial invasion.

They got to a Republic cruiser which had the remaining Jedi council members as well as the other mainstream Jedi, "General skywalker," said windu, "you may be wondering why you were rushed to the republic cruiser". "Obi wan told me it had to do with an imperial invasion," said Anakin, "are the sensors not working?" "Oh no they're working perfectly fine," replied windu, "but apparently when the ship's came out of hyperspace, they were visible on our sensors for only 7 seconds then they vanished". "Maybe they retreated or maybe something else." said Anakin. "No, ships do not just vanish, and if they went into hyperspace, we would have known. This can only mean one thing," said windu, "a cloaking device. And they could be just a few kilometers away ready to attack". "We need to stand here and fight," said Anakin, "no more running from the empire". "Eager you are to wage war on the sith." said Yoda, "warmongers, the Jedi are not". "But we have always defeated the previous sith," responded Anakin, "we can defeat them again". "We need to save ships to accompany the Pride of the Core." said Mace Windu. "What is the Pride of the Core?" asked Anakin, who already knew what it was but didn't want anyone to think suspicious of him. "We'll see when we get to Kuat." replied Windu. "By the way," said Anakin, "I know this is a bit off topic but did the senators and Chancellor get out ok?". "We contacted them but they didn't believe us." answered Mace Windu. "We should go get them." said Anakin. "There's not enough time." replied windu, "the fleet could show up at any minute". "But Padme is going to die." replied Anakin, "I had a vision of Padme dying and your lack of will to save her is making it happen". "Frustrated, you are, we understand." replied Yoda, "but let go of attachments, you must". "Is that your excuse for letting them die?" retorted Anakin, "I thought a Jedi was supposed to save others". "The Jedi also need to make sacrifices." responded Windu. "That's the problem," said Anakin, "you're holding the republic back. You're sacrificing too much and every senator along with the chancellor will die". "We can rebuild the government after the war is over," replied windu, "but for now, we must jump to light speed towards Kuat". Mace windu hit a button which activated the ship's AI, "jump to light speed." Windu ordered. Then the ship jumped to lightspeed. "Wait," said Anakin, "you can't just leave them behind". "I'm sorry Skywalker," said windu, "but this is the way it has to be. If the entire government is wiped out and we have to start over then so be it". "You didn't alert them on purpose did you." said Anakin rather confrontationally. "Clouding you, your anger is." Yoda said. "You're gonna take control over the republic and form a dictatorship." said Anakin with disgust. "Come to your senses!" Yelled mildly by Obi Wan, "we have always fought for for the republic and for democracy". "And we will appoint a new chancellor and new senators will be elected should a worse case scenario occur." added Windu.

The cruiser eventually came out of hyperspace over the heavily defended world of Kuat. There was a ring encircling the entire planet which produced ships for the Republic war effort. The heavy amount of ships was probably why the Empire never attempted an attack on the planet. As they got closer, Skywalker noticed heavy laser cannons slightly bigger than those on republic cruisers being attached to the shipyard ring as well as an SPHA-t walker (used to bring down separatist core ships during the battle of Geonosis). During the separatist uprising, Kuat was deep enough in Republic space that there was no need for anything more than a few fleets of republic cruisers; but now with the empire occupying surrounding worlds, it has been absolutely imperative to upgrade the ring's defenses and use the entire ring for the republic war effort. Many people have moved to Kuat looking for job opportunity to work at the shipyards. The surface is unremarkable: the largest city is Kuat City, the capital with 45 million people but most of the cities are rather small. There are a few other large cities but the population is only 3.5 billion. The ship docked with the massive shipyard and the Jedi entered the colossal installation. They took a monorail which was within the shipyards to another point and they were escorted to their quarters.

A few hours later, Skywalker was training while Obi Wan was sent to Balmorra, another very valuable world dedicated to manufacturing weapons for the Republic. He had trouble concentrating due to his worries over Padme's fate. His fears grew stronger when he got news reports of the Corellian Invasion. Apparently, 3 minutes after they left the planet, the imperial stealth fleet fired upon the republic ships destroying them as well as the space station. As of the time Skywalker was watching the news, the Empire had taken over many Corellian towns and bombed the ones which they couldn't. Coronet didn't get assaulted by the Empire yet but many other cities had fallen.

As Skywalker was falling asleep, he was woken up by the alarm, "Not again." said Skywalker. He went on the space tram towards the hangar with the Jedi starfighters. After 5 minutes of running, he got to his starfighter and took off.

There were 20 banking clan ships, 5 trade federation cruisers, and 5 Imperial Dreadnoughts. On the Republic side, there were 20 Republic cruisers as well as the armaments on the ring. Every republic ship had an SPHA-t attached to the naval hole at the bottom. Anakin Skywalker and Plo Koon both made short work of the tie fighters making way for bombers.

Only 2 imperial dreadnoughts survived the encounter, making a retreat into hyperspace. On the other hand, while the republic lost 6 ships, this was their first victory against the empire; they may have lost in Corellia but this battle will be a reminder that they are not defeated.

After the battle, Anakin and Plo Koon were sent to the command room where the rest of the Jedi council was in addition to Tarkin. "Tarkin?" Anakin asked, "what are you doing here?". "I was promised Admiral of the new fleet." Tarkin responded. "You two have certainly done well in protecting the shipyard," said windu towards skywalker and Plo Koon. "Proven that the empire can be defeated, you have." Yoda said.

After the battle was over, Anakin went to sleep. He had another vision; this time, Obi wan was being butchered up by several lightspeed followed by mechanical laughter. He victiously woke up and was breathing heavily. After 6 minutes of standing still, he went back to sleep. Then, another vision came of Padme being executed by firing squad. He woke up once again and he never slept after that.

The next day was a rather cheerful day as the republic had successfully repelled an imperial attack for the first time. Anakin on the other hand was worried for the fate of Obi Wan and Padme, plus he didn't get enough sleep last night. He tried to appear cheerful on the outside but on the inside, he felt that if the Jedi didn't act soon that Padme's fate would be sealed. That night, Skywalker went to sleep again but had no visions... or the next night.

Meanwhile in Corellia, the empire was winning; several Corellian settlements were bombed to ashes, many cities were war torn, and the empire had entered Coronet. Ten green Jedi stayed to defend the capital, only one of which was a council member. The Green Jedi Temple was destroyed in orbital bombardment as were quite a few smaller cities.

The people of Corellia were resisting but how long will they last? Can the Republic finish its new fleet and put an end to the empire's conquests or will they succumb to imperial might?


	17. The Wait

**Kuat:**

Over the course of the next few days, Anakin was worrying about the well being of Padme and Palpatine. The Jedi were told that they would wait to make their offensive until the Pride of the Core was completed, in about a month.

He paid another visit to Yoda who was meditating, "Fear, you have, of losing Padme." Yoda said as Skywalker walked into the door. "How did you know?" asked Skywalker. "When you mentor people for 800 years like I have, read them you can." Yoda replied. "I've also had a vision of Obi Wan being killed by General Grievous." Anakin added. "Hmmmmm," Yoda was silent for a few seconds, "troubling, these times are." Yoda quietly said. "What will we do?" asked Anakin. "I guess we will have to accept their passing as they become one with the force." replied Yoda. "You mean do nothing." Anakin said. "Happy, I am not with their fate." Yoda said, "but accept it and move on, we must". "And you're just gonna sit around and do nothing." Skywalker said upsetedly. "A month, the pride of the core will take to be usable." Yoda replied, "Let your concerns for Padme cloud your mind, you must not".

Skywalker left a little less discontent with the Jedi order but was still not willing to let Padme die. Anakin spent the rest of the day training. When other Jedi expressed concern about the amount of time spent training, particularly, lightsaber dueling and training remotes, he said that he was just preparing for the worst.

The next day, he was summoned before Yoda and Mace Windu as well as Obi Wan who was a hologram from Balmorra, "What is it, masters?" Skywalker asked. "Your constant worries about Senator Amidala trouble us, Skywalker." Windu replied. "Skywalker has been very close with Padme Amidala for awhile," added Obi Wan, "it's nothing new". "Skywalker," Windu scolded, "are you aware that the Jedi Order does not endorse attachments?" "Yes I am," Anakin replied, "but Padme and I are just close friends, nothing more". "Are you so sure, Anakin?" responded Windu, "Until recently, we figured that to be true much likened to the case with your former padawan, Ahsoka Tano. But we had a meeting shortly before summoning you and we noticed a few things: you address her by her first name, you have spent much time with her when not on our missions...". "But I also spent time with Palpatine." Skywalker interrupted. "You seem to care more about senator Amidala than your other friends." Windu responded. "I think it is true that Anakin and Padme Amidala are in a relationship," added Obi Wan, "until the empire came, I never really thought of it but now that it has been brought to our attention, we have sensed a strong, romantic connection between him and the senator". "But," Anakin paused, "but I don't". "Anakin," said Obi Wan, "I know how it feels. I once had an attachment with Duchess Satine but Yoda and Windu had the same conversation with me. Interestingly enough, Qui Gon also discussed this with me; he often questioned the Jedi Order and part of me lost faith in him. The point is that you can care about other people, I've done that. But you cannot let your attachments cloud your mind; that's why the Jedi forbid attachments in the first place".

The conversation wrapped up after Obi Wan said those words and Skywalker left feeling more at peace. However by the next few days, his worries returned. These worries clung onto him like a hook. He just couldn't let her go, no matter how hard he tried. He felt like taking a Jedi starfighters and fighting the invasion all by himself deep down inside, he knew that it would get him killed. He he had another vision of the empire taking over the galaxy and celebrating the defeat of the republic.

And it had only been one week since they arrived at Kuat.

A week after arriving at Kuat, Skywalker had heard news of the Empire taking Corellia. His worries grew evermore; he began to watch in horror as his vision came ever closer to being realized.

That same day, the council members, Anakin, the green council, and Tarkin held a meeting at the command center with Obi Wan once again in hologram form. "I say we take the republic fleet and cut the head off of the empire with one swift stroke;" Tarkin said, "Corellia can be liberated later". "But if we take Coruscant now," Skywalker responded, "the empire might retaliate by killing off the chancellor and all the senators; there would be no leadership". "If a worst case scenario happens," Windu replied, "then we can run the government until a new chancellor is elected into office; the republic systems can also elect new senators". "Corellia is our lineage," replied grand master Baraga Thatch, "we fled to Kuat because we hoped to retake it again". "Darth Malgus is probably waiting on Coruscant." Mace Widu said, "if we strike as soon as the pride is ready, we can knock the empire off balance. Then we can liberate other republic worlds and then go into the unknown regions". "I agree with you," replied Tarkin, "but I'd prefer to go straight into the unknown region to defeat the Empire once and for all". "But the Empire took Corellia which is where many of our senators and the chancellor are," Anakin said, "If we retake Coruscant, the empire could execute all of them in retribution which would make it much harder for the republic to rebuild". "As I have said before," replied Windu, "we, the people will elect a new body to fill in the empty seats". "But it would still be demoralizing to have the entire government body killed by the Empire." Anakin responded, "plus, Padme, err, Senator Amidala is a valuable asset of the Jedi and has fought valiantly for peace during the clone wars". "I don't care about your pesky Jedi agents," Tarkin harshly responded, "what I do care about is that the enemies of the Republic are defeated and destroyed". "But the Empire is probably destroying Corellia's heritage as we speak." said one of the green council members, "the longer the Empire holds the planet, the harder it will be to liberate it". "I think quite the opposite," remarked Obi Wan, "there is little doubt that the clone wars were caused by rampant corruption in the republic, something which is probably very tiring to the average citizen; I'd dare to even say that some would even welcom the empire. However, once they see the brutalities of imperial rule, then they will be more welcome towards the Jedi and the republic". "That's an interesting way of looking at things," replied Baraga Thaltch, "but as Skywalker has previously pointed out, the republic's leadership is in jeopardy if we take Coruscant first. Yes, the systems can elect a new chancellor and new senators but it would make it much harder to rebuild the republic. Plus we can retake Coruscant later". "A good point," the green Jedi makes." said Yoda in response. "But we'll lose the element of surprise if we take Corellia first." responded Tarkin. "How do we even know that Malgus is still on Coruscant and not in the unknown region?" asked Anakin. "The SIS has confirmed that Malgus governs the empire from the republic executive building." replied Tarkin. "Wouldn't it be much easier to govern from the Jedi temple or the imperial capital?" Anakin asked. "Maybe Malgus feels that victory is right around the corner and is already moving the capital to Coruscant." answered Windu, "every time the sith fell, it was because of pride". "They lost because of infighting." answered Anakin, "and right now, they are united". "If we kill the emperor," said Yoda, "be in disarray, the Empire will". "But the sith empire from which this one stems from lasted awhile after the original emperor was presumed dead." responded Plo Koon. "True, but in the initial aftermath of emperor Vitiate's 'death', the original Empire was weakened and it led to a power vacuum," Obi Wan replied, "which in turn led to the birth of the empire we face today".

The meeting lasted 30 minutes longer before everyone was dismissed. It still was not decided on whether to go straight for the head of the Empire or spare the Republic's leadership, trapped on Corellia first. The prospect seemed very real to Anakin that he may lose Padme forever.

Waiting for the fleet to be ready was hell for Anakin. He didn't know whether Padme would survive until then. He stayed up the entire night on the day of the conference after waking up, yet again due to his vision of Padme being killed. Palpatine's fate remained uncertain but Padme's fate seemed certain but he couldn't just stand by and let it happen. No, he was going to leave the shipyard and go rescue Padme.


	18. Return to Corellia

**Rescue:**

It was 2:00 am Kuat standard time. Skywalker had to sneak aboard a ship and go to Corellia or his love would die.

He reached his Jedi interceptor which was in a hangar. He took off, went for a hyperspace ring, and jumped to lightspeed.

It took an hour to get to Corellia. After he came out of hyperspace, he quickly sped his fighter towards where Coronet was but he had to quickly speed down to the surface because the imperial fleet was firing upon his interceptor. They destroyed his hyperspace ring so retreat was completely out the window.

Eventually, he had to jump out of his fighter because it was too damaged to fly. Fortunately by this point, Skywalker was close enough to Corellia's surface that he didn't die of outer space.

He fell for awhile before landing a hundred miles from a city. It was very small compared to Coronet but still seemed to have tall buildings (not as tall as Coronet's though). He was in a coniferous forest. There was no infrastructure nearby, the Corellians were keen on preserving nature while they generally stuck to their cities. He began moving his way closer to the city to take the vactrain (really fast transport involving a capsule in an airless tube) to Coronet since it would be quicker than just walking and hopefully stumbling upon a speeder bike if he was lucky. However, the city was probably covered in imperial troopers and droids with maybe a sith or two.

He found a burnt settlement. Luckily, there were no imperials nearby. So he shaved his head and found a pair of clothes that would fit him. He sped much closer to the city on a landspeeder and disembarked very close to the city.

He casually walked towards the train station and of course, there were plenty of imperials and a few sith as well as damaged buildings and skyscrapers which were leveled. He walked for what felt like an hour before getting to the train station. He waited in a long line to get through security (got much tighter thanks to military rule); once there, he had to go through a scanner which would scan his DNA and for weapons. He simply used the force to short circuit the device and proceeded. He then made his way to the Coronet section which seemed surprisingly empty; nevertheless, he proceeded to one of the vactrain capsules.

"Where's your paperwork?" An imperial trooper guarding one of the vactrains asked.

"Paperwork? I thought I just needed a ticket." Anakin replied.

"son, in case you've been living in a secret selonian tunnel, Corellia has been under military rule for a day now and due to a few republic pockets in Coronet, all travel except by authorized personnel is prohibited".

"I don't need paperwork." Skywalker said as he was waving his hand.

"you don't need paperwork"

The trooper then granted him access to the vactrain.

After a 30 minute ride, Skywalker arrived at his destination. He made his way out of the station to find hordes of imperial troops. He rushed his way towards a plaza right in front of the Corellian executive building where he envisioned the executions taking place. He was relieved to find out that she was still out there, probably blending in with the populace... Or was she? It looks like Anakin is ready to save Padme when the time comes; or he just missed her execution and the mess had already been cleaned up.

It was getting late so he went into a mixed use building (most skyscrapers were mixed use) and took an elevator up to the 168th floor. He used the force to unlock the doors going to the roof and slept there.


	19. Meanwhile on Kuat

**Back at Kuat:**

The morning after the meeting, many of the people who saw Skywalker daily during the week he was here, we're shocked to find him missing; however, they dismissed it. But the Jedi council saw things differently when they got a report that Skywalker had gone missing. At that moment, they knew exactly what had happened.

Yoda sighed, "always diving into trouble, Skywalker is".

"We cannot afford to have him risk his life like this." Windu replied

"Only a matter of time it was before Skywalker took matters into his own hands".

"Skywalker is a very valuable asset; to lose him would be a great loss to the war effort. We might need to push ahead the date of the invasion".

"No, finished, the pride of the core is not. Wait, we must"

"Skywalker cannot survive Corellia for much longer".

"Very in tune with the force, he is."

"Even so, it is unlikely Skywalker will survive 3 weeks on an enemy planet without getting captured."

"Very well then. Accept his fate and move on, we shall"

"Yes master Yoda"

The rest of the day seemed pretty normal; at least it seemed that way on the surface. There were many rumors about what happened to skywalker such as him abandoning the order, him fleeing to Corellia, and most crazy of all, maybe he defected to the Empire.

The very next day Mace Windu gave a speech at the mess hall designated for the Jedi at the end of breakfast hour:

"Some of you have noticed that one of our comrades is missing. For those of you who don't know, I won't mention who but at 2 AM, 2 nights ago, he left for Corellia. Now Corellia has been occupied by the Empire for over a week now. He is one of our most powerful warriors against the Empire but it is unlikely that he will survive until we are ready to invade. Please don't take matters into your own hands; we need to fight as a unit if we are to defeat this threat. The main reason he left was because he wanted to rescue a senator whom he was in a relationship with. He dismissed it as a close friendship whenever we bring it up to him but by the way he was acting, we could tell it was greater than that. This is why the Jedi Code forbids attachments. You are dismissed".

After this, many knew of Anakin's fate; the gossip spread like wildfire.

 **Author's Note:**

I know this chapter was a bit short but it's technically the second part of the previous chapter when Anakin decides that waiting Iant enough and took matters into his own hands. I promise that the next one will be longer though.


	20. Balmorra

**Balmorra:**

A few days before the attack on Corellia, Kenobi's forces were stationed on Balmorra. Balmorra was a very important world in the republic war effort because it produced weapons and droids for the republic. During the clone wars, battle droid production was largely halted as that was the infantry of the confederacy. After the Empire made its swift gains, these objections largely faded out. Protecting the planet were planetary cannons, in addition to a moderate republic fleet which could not otherwise defend against a full scale imperial assault. In addition to all of this, Balmorra had a planetary shield.

Obi Wan was stationed at Sobrik. It wasn't the capital of Balmorra but it was very easy to defend because it was built on a canyon and had factories nearby. Back during the great galactic war, the town was very small but over the last 3,600 years, it had grown and much of the open space between Sobrik and the factories had been developed There was also a shield over the entire thing and an ion cannon. It was the perfect command center.

Obi Wan Kenobi, Commander Cody, and other high ranking officials lived in a comfy barracks.

Kenobi heard about the Jedi who decided to go back to Corellia so he contacted Yoda.

"Troubled about Skywalker's departure are you?" Yoda asked.

"Funny you ask," replied obi Wan, "I was just about to ask whether the jedi who left was Anakin and you just confirmed it".

"Troublesome, Skywalker has been. Having talks about expelling him from the order, we are."

"Wait you're expelling him from the order? You didn't do that all the other times when he disobeyed orders".

"Has an attachment to Padme, he does. Make sound and rational decisions, you do not when your loved ones are in danger".

"I know that attachments are wrong but Anakin is a valuable asset to the war effort. With all due respects Master Yoda, expelling him will do more harm to the war effort than good".

"Thinks we should have rebels, Windu does not. Assuming that he survives the 3 weeks, this is".

"It seems a bit disproportionate to expel him for jumping in before the rest of us are ready, given your leniency the past times he's disobeyed orders. Yes, he has an attachment with Padme but he also shared a similarly strong bond with Ahsoka and you never transferred her to another master".

"A mistake, it might have been to hand Ahsoka's training over to Anakin. However, matured, Skywalker, responsibility did".

"The more you condemn Skywalkers's departure, the more it begs the question: if Skywalker is so rebellious, why did you make him a Jedi knight in the first place".

"Tested him better than the trials, the war did".

"yes he's skillful, he defeated ventless whilst still a padawan but he always seemed to lack something which every Jedi should have: self control. He has always had problems controlling his emotions".

"Indeed he has. Possible danger of falling to the dark side, he is".

"Let's just hope that Skywalker doesn't turn to the dark side and that he survives Corellia. May the force be with you".

"May the force be with you too".

the transmission ended. Obi Wan had a "not again" feeling while Skywalker probably got captured and is about to get executed. It reminded him of the time he had to rescue Anakin who was previously infiltrating it to confront Count Dooku. Anakin was always the type of person who didn't want to be tied down by the etablishment; he played by his own rules. His relationship with Senator Amidala was ambiguous at best and Obi Wan could definitely tell that the two were more than acquaintances. Although he had very close relations with Duchess Satine, he was able to control his enotions and continue in his walk with the force. Although Obi Wan questioned the council at times, he always remained faithful to the order.

Obi Wan had dinner on his own. Although Skywalker always turned out to be ok those other times, it seemed like Skywalker was in genuine peril. Any day between today and the Corellian offensive could be his last. But he was ordered to stay on Balmorra. Plus going to Corellia by himself would be suicide.

That night, Obi Wan had a vision. In that vision, a mysterious figure was commanding a mysterious force accompanied by a few imperial troopers. The republic quickly fell and the Empire endured a bloody civil war with the new faction and Malgus loyalists. At the end of the vision, the figure took off his mask, revealing himself to be Anakin.

The next day, Obi Wan contacted Yoda again but he didn't answer. He assumed that Yoda was busy teaching younglings so he didn't worry about it. What he did worry about was the future of Anakin and possibly the future of the galaxy.


	21. Hiding in Corellia

**Corellia:**

Anakin woke up on a tall building at around 6 am. He felt a bit tired but still felt that his Padme was still in grave danger. He looked down, trying to glimpse at the plaza and although it was roo far to see, he figured it was too early for a public execution.

Around an hour later, 2 imperial troopers and a sith reach the roof.

"There he is!" the sith said.

Right before the troopers fired their guns, Anakin force jumped over them and landed near them. Before sith could turn around, he was sliced in half and he also made short work of the 2 soldiers.

He realized that he had to be on the move soon because he knew that if that sith don't report back that there would be more coming. So he jumped off the roof onto a much shorter building, only 50 stories high but closer to the plaza. This time, he could actually see the plaza. He would look down periodically and spent the time he wasn't looking down watching the area which led up to the roof, watching out for imperials.

A few hours later, an imperial gunship closed in and dropped 6 troops; these troops split into half as there were 2 good cover points. While Skywalker was technically at the top floor, he walked down the hallway and up the stairs to be greeted by blaster fire. The gunship was also firing at him. When the gunship stopped firing, he assumed that it overheated. He turned out to be right as he leaped towards it. He sliced open the cockpit and killed the pilot and copilot. He she also used the force to send the gunship down towards the right half of the troopers sent. He killed those then leaped right behind the left half and made short work of them.

He then looked down to see that the execution hadn't happened yet but he knew he couldn't stay here or more would show up. However, there weren't any nearby tall buildings to leap which would be tall enough so that imperials didn't see him. So he stayed anyway.

He realized his mistake when he was electrocuted. After he was down to the ground a figure turned off his cloaking device. Skywalker heard a stun gun noise shortly before going out.


	22. Time of Uncertainty

**Over Balmorra:**

Around the same time that Skywalker got captured, Obi Wan Kenobi was informed that the Empire arrived at the Balmorra system and they cloaked. Kenobi used this knowledge to prepare for an imminent invasion.

The planetary shields were raised over the planet and the fleets were readied to battle positions. There was a space station with 10 republic attack cruisers, 6 of which retreated from previous battles. These ships were surrounding the space station in all directions. The space station, in addition to being armed also served as a medical station.

6 Banking clan ships decloaked and began firing on a republic ship. The other republic ships moved forward to attack the banking clan frigates. Within ten minutes, the battle was clearly in the republic's favor as most of the frigates were already destroyed. However just as the last frigates were on their last legs, four dreadnoughts decloaked on the other side of the space station and they rained hellfire upon the space station.

Nine of the republic cruisers quickly scrambled over to defend the space station from the dreadnoughts but 90 degrees to the space station, a myriad of droid and imperial fighters (half of which were bombers) came out of a cloaked ship. The fighters were flying ahead of the bombers and when the cruisers fired their turrets on them and the squadrons of Arc-170s turned their attention on them, they took most of the heat. Due to the sheer number of enemy fighters, most of the republic starfighters were destroyed. This made way for the bombers to bomb the republic ships. This weakened the ships, allowing the imperial ships to fire upon the republic cruisers and destroy them. After this, the empire made short work of the space station. The last ship decloaked, revealing itself as a ring ship, the same kind used by the former Confederacy of Independent Systems.

 **Kuat:**

* * *

As the star destroyers were destroying the space station, Mace Windu and Tarkin recieved a transmission from the crew.

"The Imperial fleet has out maneuvered us." said the captain, "our fleet is on its last legs. We cannot afford to lose ballmorra; we need reinforcements".

"As much as we would like to help Balmorra," replied Windu, "if we do not liberate Corellia as soon as possible, most of our leadership may disappear".

"I don't think it was wise to put most of our senators and the chancellor all on one planet in the first place." said the captain.

"In our defense," said Windu, "we never heard of a stealth fleet".

"Your planet has ground defenses for a reason," replied Tarkin, "I suggest you use them".

"Tarkin does have a point," said Windu, "Balmorra does have a planetary shield and plenty of ground defenses. Plus Kenobi is training the planet's inhabitants how to fight".

"I hope this planet doesn't fall like Corellia did." replied the captain.

"I hope so too and you need to abandon the station." said Windu, "May the force be with you".

"I will find the nearest escape pod," replied the captain, "and may the force be with you too".

the transmission ended.

Shortly after the transmission, the Jedi and top republican generals gathered for a meeting.

"We can't afford to keep losing planets like this," said Baraga Thaltch, "we need to accelerate the completion of the new fleet".

"Actually, most of the fleet is ready," said the republic admiral in charge of the shipyard, "but to complete the others by the end of this week, we would have to skip the AI tests and background checks to make sure that the reactors don't malfunction or the AI gores rogue. We could invade Corellia a week from now but it would be risky".

"We cannot afford anything to go wrong in our invasion." replied Windu.

"We must strike Corellia as soon as possible," responded Tarkin, "then we must retake coruscant and tear our way through the unknown regions".

"The chancellor could be on death row as we speak," said Thalch, "we cannot afford to wait around while my people are under the empire's thumb".

"Act with clarity we must," responded Yoda "liberate your people, I understand. But If we take any chances, the invasion will fail".

"All I know is if Anakin were here," said Obi wan in hologram, "he would persuade us to take the fleet anyway".

"Skywalker is a valuable asset to the war effort," Plo Koon added, "he has been our most reliable hero".

"But if the fleet doesn't work properly, that could result in many of the ships being severely damaged," responded Windu, "repairing them would buy enough time for the Empire to land a counterattack on Corellia. Or the fleet could be destroyed or it could malfunction".

"Skywalker has used a few things even though they weren't ready." replied Luminara Unduli in hologram from Alderaan.

"Name one" replied Windu.

"the Y wing bombers used against the malevolence were still being tested".

"I'm sorry," said Windu, "but it's too big of a gamble".

"Indeed," added Yoda, "unwise it would be to waste our chance to defeat the Empire".

And so it was decided not to use the fleet until it was ready.


	23. Preparations for Invasion of Balmorra

**After the Failed Invadion of Kuat:**

Darth Necros got a transmission; it was from Darth Malgus:

"Darth Necros" said Malgus, sounding displeased with him.

"yes, my emperor." Necros replied as he was kneeling before Malgus.

"your arrogance was responsible for the destruction of 20 banking clan ships, 5 trade federation cruisers, and 3 Imperial Dreadnoughts".

"I thought that I could take Kuat, given the tough losses which the republic has suffered in the past few months. Sith have been known in the past to utilize cruel punishments simply because the republic's heroes were effective".

"You are without excuse; obviously since you're attacking a shipyard planet which is one of the few strongholds left for the republic, taking the planet is bound to require more effort than that".

"But with all due respect Lord Malgus, I didn't bring that many ships compared to how many left over".

"Our forces are stretched thin, Velcrus. We're busy taking planets in the outer rim from planets loyal to the republic and conquering planets in the outer rim".

"why are we even focusing on the outer rim" Velcrus got up, "we should be focusing our forces on the core worlds".

"We're taking the outer rim to ensure that the Jedi and other dissidents have nowhere to run and I did not give you permission to rise".

"Your tactics are holding us back your majesty. I say we stop playing with our food and start eating it".

*malgus uses the force to push Velcrus across the bridge*

"I am your emperor; show your master some respect".

Velcrus kneeled again, "it was only a few ships lost; we can replenish our losses".

"You know, I had such high hopes for you when you led the attack on the Jedi Temple and killed that Jedi Council member; you're a good warrior. However, your tsctival abilities outside of life gardening warfare are severely lacking. You will not be leading the attack on Balmorra".

"But I promise you, Lord Malgus, I will not fail again".

"You will not lead the attack on Balmorra. Grievous will".

"But grievous just recently joined our side. Do you honestly trust him to lead an entire campaign?"

"Grevious has sworn his life to destroy the Jedi and has been an effective general of the CIS. He is also Kaleesh, a warrior race which has a long history of enmity with the republic".

"Yes, my lord"

The transmission ended.

 **Planning the Invssion of Balmorra:**

* * *

Before the Invasion of Balmorra, key imperial generals and Malgus held a meeting.

"The decision is final," said Malgus, "General grievous will lead the assault on Balmorra".

"With all due respect my lord, grievous has only led droids prievously." Replied an imperial admiral, "are you sure he won't view our troops as expendable as droids?"

"General grievous will be leading the assault on the planetary shield generators with droids." Said Malgus, "after the shields are down, we will crash a separatist frigate into Sobrik Canyon".

"But what about the other cities in Balmorra?" Asked Darth Necros, "won't they be fortified as well?"

"our latest Intel confirms that Sobrik is heavily fortified compared to the rest of Balmorra and there are 2 major factories which could be producing droids as we speak." replied Malgus, "it is also home to the republic garrison on Balmorra".

"but even when we being down the shield and destroy Sobrik," said the admiral, "how will we manage the rest of the planet. After all, the Balmorran people make lots of weapons and they're fiercely loyal to the Republic".

"Not to worry," said Grievous, "I know how to deal with rebels".

And so the decision was final that former Confederate General Grievous would lead the attack on Balmorra.


	24. Captured

**After Being Captured:**

Anakin woke up in a prison cell. The cell had a square layout and on the other side of the entrance was a bed laying sideways. It wasn't too comfy but it wasn't a hard bench as seen in other jail cells in the galaxy. He was still in his Jedi clothes but when he felt the side of his belt, he found that his lightsaber was missing. Also, he couldn't separate his arms because they were handcuffed. These were the same type of handcuffs used on his padawan when Cad Bane captured her. He tried to break free from the cuffs but they electrocuted him and got tighter. He pondered whether he made the right decision to take matters into his own hands. Maybe he should have waited for the republic to finish their fleet and maybe Padme would have still survived the month long occupation; after all, she had seen quite a bit of the action during the first battle of Geonosis. But the Empire was now much more dangerous than the separatists ever were. In addition to their droids, the empire had 10 billion soldiers and 30 billion droids at the beginning of the war. Now they have 100 billion personnel and the quadrillion battle droids which were part of the CIS. On top of that, they had 500 sith before the war started and around 40 died. The clones were only numbered at around 5 million and there were only 300 Jedi. If it weren't for resistance from the republic's planets' inhabitants' resistance, the Empire would have likely won by now. Skywalker pondered whether it was really worth it; maybe his capture will actually help the empire catch senator Amidala and they'll execute her.

 **Back at Kuat:**

* * *

Yoda, Mace Windu, Plo Koon, and Tarkin were summoned to the transmission room to hear a transmission.

It was from Darth Malgus:

"It seems like you are getting desperate." Said Malgus

"What do you mean?" Asked Windu.

"You have sent one of your best heroes to Corellia to undermine our occupation." Answered Malgus.

"Sent him, we did not." Responded Yoda.

"Either way, we are now holding him in our custody." Replied Malgus

"you think capturing one person really warrants boasting to your enemies?" Mocked Tarkin.

"skywalker is one of our best heroes," Windu said in response to tarkin, "though he doesn't always follow orders".

"We will be executing him tomorrow," said Malgus, "to show the weakness of the republic".

*the transmission ended*

"troubling times, these are." Yoda said with a worrying voice.

"perhaps we should attack Corellia ahead of schedule." said Plo Koon.

"no," said Windu, "we cannot afford to take any chances on our fleet".

"Exactly," replied Koon, "skywalker knows about the invasion. If he coughs up the information, it could jeopardize our plans.

"if the Empire knows about our plan to invade Corellia then we should switch tactics and hit Coruscant." Responded Tarkin.

"With all due respects Admiral," replied Plo Koon, "but our leadership and now one of are greatest heroes are trapped on the planet".

"We can get a new chancellor and elect new senators if the worst happens." Replied Tarkin.

"Hmm, dire times, these are." Said Yoda, "Strike the Empire we must. Afford to lose this war we cannot".

"I thought you would be a little more concerned about saving the senators trapped on Corellia." Replied Plo Koon.

"noticed that Malgus did not mention senator Amidala or the chancellor, I did." Replied Yoda.

"even if our leadership survives the occupation," responded pli Koon, "how will the Green Jedi react to our plan to ignore Corellia?"

"they probably won't be too pleased with our decision." Answered Windu.

"perhaps we can focus on Corellia after we take Coruscant." Suggested Tarkin, "after we kill the emperor, the empire will be confused enough for us to retake Corellia and boost morale enough for us to tear into the unknown regions and possibly take out even more of their leadership".

"That doesn't seem like a bad idea." said plo Koon.

And so the republic's leadership officially decided on a strategy to defeat the Empire once and for all.

 **Author's Note:**

* * *

Sorry I took so long to finish this chapter. This fanfic is also getting a bit slow but I promise it will eventually get better.


	25. A dark hour

**Balmorra:**

Obi Wan was in the command center when he found out that the Empire had destroyed the republic fleet over Balmorra. He ordered the trained Balmorran troops and clone soldiers to concentrate around the 36 planetary shield generators.

since the shield was much stronger than the one over Alderaan, a direct invasion would be near impossible. Grievous was told that if the invasion was unsuccessful, he should at least blockade the planet to prevent arms from reaching the remaining republic systems.

 **Alderaan:**

* * *

In the city of Alder, Luminara

* * *

was meditating. The Empire hadn't attacked the planet in the last month so she felt free to let her guard down. Then Commander Gree contacted her in a transmission:

"sir," he said, "we detected a separatist landing ship moving towards our position".

"Then shoot it down." Replied Luminara

"But here's the thing, the landing ship is not landing near us, it's crashing towards us".

"Then we should order an evacuation and hope for the best".

The transmission ended.

At that moment, Luminara got another transmission from the command center of another city in Alderaan:

"General Luminara," said the Alderaanian commander, "there is a separatist landing ship heading on a collision course".

"Then this is not an accident," replied Luminara Unduli, "it is a deliberate kamakazi attack".

"How do you know?"

"because there's also one heading towards Aldera".

"we've already evacuated the city so hopefully these ships don't deal too much damage to the infrastructure".

"it would be wise if you would do the same".

"wait a minute. The ships are set to crash a few miles away from the city. They have readjusted their course".

"the ship over Aldera is beginning to float around a mile above Aldera and it has stopped moving at a collision course and is floating a little bit above..."

 **Boom**

"Luminara are you there? General Unduli, do you copy?"

A nuclear explosion went off inside the ship and onliterated Aldera and the other also blew up shortly after.

Later that day, other major cities of Alderaan were leveled using the same method. The next day, the Empire launched a full scale assault on the Republic world.

Alderaan was now under Imperial occupation.

 **Elsewhere:**

* * *

The Empire had taken most of the Republic's worlds but they still had to subjugate the remaining neutral worlds such as Tatooine. Malgus knew that many worlds were useless but didn't want to give the Republic anywhere to run.


	26. The Escape

**Prison:**

It was very late at night. After 3 days in prison, Skywalker decided that now was the time to break out.

He used the force to open the door while his handcuffs were still on and ran down a hallway. He then heard footsteps behind him.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Shouted an imperial trooper," Get back in your cell".

Skywalker then used the force to take away his rifle and shoot him. He also used it to break the plasma tether holding the 2 cuffs together then used the force to undo the cuffs. Skywalker then got the idea to open the other doors to create a diversion, allowing him to escape.

Skywalker used the force to open the doors of all of the prison cells and out came the prisoners. Skywalker ran out the door into an elevator; he took it up to floor 6(highest level), hoping to leap out of the prison but he found that it was going down so he made it go back up.

When the elevator went up to the first floor, Skywalker quickly found that he was in one of Coruscant's lower levels. and was quickly surrounded by imperial troopers. However, at that moment, a blackout occurred, allowing Skywalker to jump over them and leap into a ship that was apparently waiting for him.


	27. Unexpected Twist

**Unexpected Twist:**

The figure piloting the advanced ship was in a brown cloak.

"Who are you?" Asked Anakin

"My name is of no importance." Replied the figure.

"can you at least tell me why you are rescuing me?"

"I have come for you because I believe that you are the Celestlian".

"The Celestlian?"

"more will be explained when we get there".

The ship cloaked as it left through the massive hole which led to the underworld. It left Coruscant's atmosphere and appeared to jump to lightspeed but ended up at its destination almost instantly. In front of the ship was a very bright nebula.

"How did your ship get here so fast?" asked Skywalker, "and are we flying into that bright nebula?".

"This ship uses a force drive which allows it to travel anywhere in the galaxy instantaneously," answered the figure, "and you are near the center of the galaxy. This is the force nexus. This is where the force flows out of".

The lights on the ship began to intensify before breaking. As they flew closer to the nebula, the light got tenser and tenser until they flew inside of it. Anakin saw a planet with the same yellow energy which the nebula was made of coming out.

The planet was quite odd but not as odd as Mortis. It has a featureless, barren surface save for geysers shooting out yellow energy.

The ship flew into one of these geysers and landed on a floating island, lush with giant mushrooms and tentacle-like plants (a similar landscape to felucia). They left their ship to find a ball of light.

"have you found the Celestian?" asked the ball of light in a female voice.

"I are certain that it is him." replied the cloaked figure.

The ball of light revealed itself as a figure in a black robe and wearing a mask which displayed a neutral face.

"follow me" said the black robed figure.

They followed her into a dark room which soon lit up. Four other similar figures appeared with masked but they were of different expressions. There was anger, confusion, fear, and joy. The leading figure was serenity.

"the traveler has returned," serenity told the others, "he believes that he has found the one".

"is it true that he has found the one?" asked joy.

"I believe that without a doubt, Anakin Skywalker is the one." The traveler replied.

"did I tell you your name?" Asked Skywalker.

"The force led me to you" answered the traveler "your name has been engraved upon your soul".

"we still cannot be certain that he is the Celestlian." replied anger.

"In order to confirm that he is the Celestlian," said confusion, "he must be able to harness the power of the planet".

They went outside of the cave to the edge of the island that they were on.

"how can I ..." Skywalker was about to ask. Before he finished, he remembered how he had previously done something similar on Mortis when the son and daughter were holding Obi Wan and Ahsoka captive.

Skywalker then used the force and a nearby island of similar size began to tip over. Yellow energy began to surround him as he began to levitate. He began to levitate higher and higher as the yellow energy swirled around him. Finally, he returned to the ground.

"he is the One" tranquility said.

Skywalker was amazed at his newfound power and wondered if he could use his hidden gift to save his wife.

"go to the center of the nexus," Tranquility said, "and all of your questions will be answered".

"pilot the ship into the black hole," the figure said, "the gravitational pull should tear apart the ship but if you are truly the Celestlian then the force will sustain you".

"seriously though," asked anakin, "who are you?"

The cloaked figure took off his hood to reveal a rather familiar face

"QUI GON?" Anakin's was speechless, "b.b.b.b but you died. Maul killed you".

"I originally came to this planet to learn the secrets of the force." Answered Qui Gon "I hoped to learn how to become a force ghost but before I could complete my training, I died but not before I could reach out to others after death. Around a decade later, I reached out to Yoda to hopefully set him on a path of enlightenment."

"do you think it worked?" Asked anakin.

"Although Yoda did conquer his deepest fears and achieved greater tune to the force," replied Qui Gon, "I fear he has not obtained true balance. He still fights on the behalf of the Republic without considering the grievances of the other side. The Confederacy may be an enemy of the Republic but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're wrong".

"the separatists seceded because Chancellor Palpatine was making them pay their fair share" Skywalker responded

"There's more to it than that. Many of them seceded because they wanted to be independent of the jurisdiction of an interplanetary government. Others were disillusioned by the amount of corruption in the Republic. Now, whether the CIS is any better than the Republic is questionable."

"Have you been up to date with galactic news recently?"

"what do you mean?"

"an empire came from the unknown regions and is close to defeating the Republic".

"I am fully aware of the Empire and I think they should definitely be stopped".

"but the Republic is losing. The separatists were defeated by the Empire and they have their battle droids".

"This is unfortunate indeed. It's a good thing I brought you here when I did"

"by the way, how did you become physical again".

"The priestesses told me that in order to become human again, I had to fly to the center of the planet. And when I did, the force was so strong that midichlorians began restoring my body and the force lifted me onto one of the islands."

"and your ship?"

"The celestlials provided one for us. Now go, Anakin. Journey to the Nexus."

"But master Qui Gon, I still have so many questions."

"when you get there, all of your questions will be answered."

After these events, Skywalker went into the ship and took off.

"Farewell, Celestlian" said Qui Gon as Skywalker departed.


	28. The Revelations

**The Revelation:**

Skywalker flew his ship out of the planet and towards the nexus. As he flew closer, the electronics on his ship started to mess up. Then he flew into the event horizon black hole.

There was no turning back

Either he was the Celestlian and he would be the salvation of the galaxy or he would die with the ship. As he flew in deeper and deeper, he started hearing tension in the ship. After another while, the ship sirens began going off as part of the ship. The ship was drawn closer and closer to the center and the same yellow energy which was on the force planet began surrounding it. Eventually, the ship broke apart but Skywalker was saved by the surrounding energy. A humanoid figure walker toward him.

"Are you the Celestlian?" She asked him.

"I was told I was by force priestesses on the nearby planet" Skywalker answered.

"Your ability to master the force is a strong indicator." Replied the female figure

""So," asked Anakin, "now that you know that I'm the chosen one, can you tell me what's all of this about?"

"First of all, you are not the chosen one, your mother is."

"WHAT?" Snaking was quite shocked to hear this answer.

"we chose your mother to conceive you. A chosen one would have recieved his powers."

"So where did this all start. What led you to create someone who could control the force."

"it's a very long story, Celestlian, one that dates before all the ancient civilizations you studied."

"tell me everything"

"around a million years ago, before the Rakata, before the Collumi, and before the Gree, the Celestlians were the first race to achieve interstellar travel. But there was one problem: the speed of light was not adequate for travel between planets and communication between worlds was impossible. So we harnessed the power of dark matter which consists of a majority of all the mass in the galaxy and harnessed it to enable quicker space travel, make an interplanetary internet possible, and possible even give powers to certain individuals."

"The force" Anakin replied.

"Indeed, many races came to know the force as a divine entity after we disappeared. Now as I was saying, it was a golden age for our race as our colonies were able to maintain contact with each other. It would be one thing to be in tune with the force. It would be another to wield it. To achieve this, we picked a world with life and used our best technology to connect it with the force. To use this planet to wield the force, one person had to do it. Any more and they might conflict, messing up the force. For this task, they selected my husband, Shiv Tull to run this planet. With him, he brought his son and daughter; together, they lived on the planet we called "Mortis".

"I know that place. The planet was ruled by a group called force wielders".

"So he tried to reach out to you?"

"I'm guessing you mean the father so in that case yes".

"Why didn't you stay?"

"it's a long story," replied Anakin, "the father tried to get me to command the force but his son messed everything up".

"please don't remind me." The figure said as a tear came down, "as soon as he died, I felt his death".

"I am so sorry you had to lose someone that important to you. I know someone very important to me, her life is in danger".

"you will have the power to save your wife from the dark forces of Malgus."

"but how do I use the force to defeat the Empire? And why did you bring me here when your civilization is extinct?"

"900,000 years after the nexus and Mortis were created, the Gree from the planet Gree, the Columi from Columus, and the Kwa from Dathomir became advanced. We were very generous; we shared our knowledge with them and they became very advanced. As a demonstration of our unity, we turned our home planet into a planet-wide city, the one you call Coruscant. Together, we were the big four. This golden age was not to last as the Rakata rose to prominence 35,000 years ago. Before the Kwa gave them technology, they were a rather primitive civilization, having not even industrialized. The Kwa had very advanced technology. They saw potential in the Rakata, taught them to use our force energy. But they did not ice in harmony with the force which centered around the nexus? They made the force near them center around them; this is the dark side of the force. It made them powerful but they were not in harmony with the other force using civilizations."

"you mean there were other civilizations using the force?"

"yes,

"yes, we created another race as a display of our genetic expertise. We planted them on the planet you call Corellia. Anyways, the Kwa saw potential in the Rakata. We warned them not to violate this clause but they didn't listen; they believed that they could bring primitive civilizations to our level and perhaps end suffering for all sentient beings. But alas, they abused their newfound talents and created an unstoppable war machine: the Infinite Empire. Orbiting around their planet's star was a space factory called the Star Forge. It could produce endless amounts of weapons and ships by welling up the force to convert hydrogen and helium into more complex elements such as carbon and iron."

"they created the star forge?"

"yes, they were responsible for creating the very same thing that made Revan and Malak a threat to your republic. Even with the combined might of the big four, we could not stop them. They forced the Gree and Columi to surrender their technology while we along with the Kwa fled to a much smaller galaxy only 50,000 light years across; we did this by bending space to get there faster. To prevent the Infinite Empire from following us, we placed a disturbance region, keeping them in the galaxy. After we fled to another spiral galaxy, we created a new nexus. Since the galaxy had less than a fourth the diameter of ours, creating a nexus was a more tedious task. This new nexus was less powerful than this one so we decided to centralize it to maintain contact. About fifty years after they fled, the Celestlials called us, using the teleportation technology they contacted us and told us of their hardships and called upon us to take back our galaxy. As a result, Shive Tull and I grew vengeful against the people who were putting our people through so much suffering. Meanwhile, the Rakata took much of the known galaxy and their Infinite Empire gave little regard for animals and sentient beings as they colonized more worlds. After ten thousand years, the golden age of the Infinite Empire was at an end; Shiv Tull and I helped inflict a disease on them which would strip them of their connection to the force".

"why did you wait so long to end the reign of the Rakata?"

"because as the Rakata conquered, they brought their tech with them. The species they conquered would eventually reverse engineer their tech and would become advanced. Anyways, when we stripped them of the force, it did not do away with the dark side of the force, so this was followed by a period of infighting as greed and the lust for power overcame their hearts. At that moment, the Gree and Columi seized the opportunity to drive the Rakata back to their home world of Lehon and I warned them to destroy the Rakata's artifacts in hope that they would not corrupt any unsuspecting race. But they didn't listen, instead, they chose to utilize them. The rakatan technology corrupted them and civil war broke out. They had not mastered the dark side like the Rakata did and so were possessed by the Rakata technology. The civil wars devastated both civilizations and the survivors remained on their respective home worlds. After several millennia, we found that the only way to bring my people back to our galaxy was to conceive somebody full of midichlorians."

"so why did you wait until now?"

"our first attempt was made 5,000 years ago, quite long ago but pretty recent compared to the previously described events. At that point, a species called the "sith" conquered a few planets. On one of those planets, we gave an embryo a strong connection to the force. But there was one problem, he was strong in the DARK side of the force. That boy eventually grew up to become the first emperor of the sith empire; his name was Darth Vitiate. After our first attempt failed so badly, we waited until 23 years ago when we conceived you within Shimi Skywalker on Tatooine. After Shiv... well, I used used the nexus of the other galaxy to make another embryo very strong in the force just in case you failed. Unlike Vitiate however, he was in tune with the force rather than drawing it in. He likely wouldn't be able to bridge the gap between the galaxies but st least he could create a force network in their galaxy. But now the celestlials can return thanks to you"

"By the way, do you know that kid's name?"

"yes, it's _. And in addition to _, there are seven _ which are in strong tune to the force "

"so you said that Morris is the key to controlling the force?"

"yes, I will bring you to it shortly"

And then they were brought to the planet Mortis.

 **Author's note**

* * *

The first blotted out word will be the protagonist of a crossover sequel; he is also the protagonist of a series. But what is this series? More hints will be dropped later near the end of this fanfic. The longer one with seven of them, that is important lore from that series.


End file.
